《Trinity Online: The Farside Chronicles》


 Prologue: Prologue - Can a prologue have a prologue?

    In an unknown room shrouded in deep darkness, an unknown being sat in the deepest shadows. If one were to be present in that room they could feel the rage in the air. The oppression was so palpable it would be enough to knock out your average trained soldier within seconds. In fact, there were the unconscious bodies of six scantily clad women arranged around him, lieing within the only areas of light in the room. If the oppression was any worse, their lives would be lost, let alone endangered. Their breathing was ragged, and sweat dripped from their bodies as they lay in a comatose like state.


    Within this room stood a man who was remarkably unaffected by the atmosphere. He stood impassively, unaffected by either the man''s aura, or the danger to the lives of the women within the room.


    "Is everything ready?" The man within the shadows spoke anxiously as he watched his subordinate, this was costing him a great deal of money after all.


    "Yes, it didn''t take much to bribe the officials. Once the local authorities found out who our target was, they were chafing at the bit to get rid of him, truly disgusting," the man replied with a feral grin.


    "Good, I''ll teach that f****r to ruin my fun," the being in the shadows replied, "Make sure the deed is done by the time he gets home."


    "Yes, Sir," the man replied, quickly disappearing from the room.


    After his suborinate had gone, a man''s face appeared from the shadows. "Now if only I could see that f****r''s face the moment he walks in and finds our little "surprise". Unfortunately that''s impossible. . ." The man''s face showed a sadistic smile as he imagined the man''s face when he returned home and his whole world came crashing down around him. "HA HAHA AHAHAHAHAHA!" The man continued to laugh hysterically as the females continually twitched on the ground.


    -----


    Andaros Terasien dejectedly halted outside his home on the planet Meracene. His mother would not be happy when she learned he was put under suspension from school yet again. It hadn''t been anything he had done. No, he was a good kid who tried to stay out of trouble, and always did his best to help others. Unfortunately, people took one look at his perpetually angry looking, and intimidating, face, his spikey hair that wouldn''t stay down, which was naturally black with streaks of bright red that looked like some kind of punk hairstyle, and his intimidating, muscular build, and they assumed he was some kind of hooligan. For Andaros it was easy to be accused of some kind of wrong-doing. Even when the boy was not even in the area, he was regularly blamed for something someone else had done at school or in a store.


    The fact that Andaros rarely spoke, due to a complex about his heavy stuttering only made the problem worse. People were intimidated by his silence and acted against him in order to assert themselves. Thus, he was often treated badly or accused of things that wouldn''t even be considered a delinquent activity under normal circumstances.


    Andaros hadn''t been involved in the problem. He kept his hands to himself, and did his best to not draw attention to himself because that always led to him getting accused of something he didn''t do, or that wasn''t even something wrong. He had been sitting at his desk the entire time, not leaving for lunch, or for anything else. The only time he had been up was when he went to the restroom early that morning, before classes began. This was his habit since early on in his attendance at this school, since any time he was up he would be blamed for something.


    Today his attempts at not getting into trouble for something he didn''t do failed miserably. This was not his own fault, but the fault of the other students, and teachers, who blamed him despite his not having gotten up even once.  In fact, the theft he was blamed for wasn''t even in the same room as him, it was in a classroom across the school from his desk, but he was blamed anyway. He missed the last three hours of classes as he sat in on a lecture on accountability for something he didn''t do.


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    The worst part was the fact that, even though he didn''t do it, it wouldn''t matter to his mom. Even being thought of as having done something wrong was a sin in her eyes, and he would receive another lecture from his mom, and a punishment of receiving only half his dinner tonight, as well as writing out a 5,000 word essay on why what he did was wrong. The amount of food being cut in half didn''t bother him so much, but constantly being forced to write an essay on how he was wrong for being blamed for something he wouldn''t even consider doing got very frustrating. Andaros never complained, but he certainly imagined doing so within his mind. He couldn''t help but consider this life, and his mother''s stance, very unfair, but he still loved his mother dearly.


    Gathering his courage, Andaros finally opened the door with his key and entered the house.


    "M-m-m-mom, I-I-I-I''m H-h-h-home," Andaros called out in his characteristic three false starts to each word as his neck tightened up on one side, and his head involuntarilly tilted. Uncharacteristically, he heard no response to his greeting. Strange, his mother was always there when he returned from school, without fail. "M-m-m-mom? M-m-m-mom," he called out questioningly as he walked through the small house toward the kitchen.


    Entering the kitchen, where his mother would normally be preparing dinner, Andaros dropped his schoolbooks and stared in horror. "M-M-M-MOM!" After a moment of shock, Andaros rushed over to where his mother lay in a pool of bloody on the floor, a knife sticking out from her back. In his panic, he shook her a few times, calling out to her in his stuttering voice. After a moment, he pressed the panic button his mother had installed in the home knowing that Andaros''s stuttering grew far worse when he tried to used a communication device.


    Strangely, not even ten seconds worth of time after he pressed the button, he saw the flashing of lights and heard the sirens of the local law enforcement, and emergency services. He quickly heard knocking on the front door and rushed to open it. When he did, instead of asking him what had happened, and where the emergency was, Andaros found the police rushing him. He was smashed against the wall of the front entry hall, and cuffed without a word spoken.


    "Search the house. Find the victim," a senior officer instructed.


    "W-w-w-what''s g-g-g-going o-o-o-on," Andaros asked.


    "You be quiet, criminal," an officer yelled at him, his voice filled with hostility. This was obviously not the way anyone would expect their own call for help to be responded to.


    "She''s in here, she''s dead," one of the officers who went to search the house called out from the kitchen.


    The news of his mother''s death hit Andaros like a ton of bricks, and he barely heard as one of the officers said, "Andaros Terasien, you''re under arrest for the murder of Andrea Terasien. . ."


    -----


    "Why''d you do it?" Andaros was asked in an interrogation room in the law enforcement station.


    "I-I-I-I d-d-d-didn''t k-k-k-kill m-m-m-my m-m-m-mother," he answered for the hundredth time.


    "Don''t lie to me you bastard," the interrogator yelled at him, slamming his fist down on the table. "Now I''m only asking this once more, why''d you do it?!"


    Andaros continued to assert his innocence, but no one would listen to him.


    A week later, Andaros was subjected to a joke of a trial, represented by a public defender who was so scared of her own client she couldn''t even look him in the eye. He was convicted with little to no evidence on the first day of trial, sentenced to life on a prison planet. A month after he was convicted, he was frozen in cryostasis, and shipped off aboard a galactic prison ship.

 Prologue: Chapter One - Requiem

    Three years after he was shipped off in cryostasis, Andaros was awoken from suspended animation.


    "He''s awake, Doctor," a disappointed female voice said from outside the stasis pod.


    Andaros looked to see a rather attractive female Rivanian standing there glaring at him. The well endowed, four breasted, mint-green skinned female with the flaring hips was obviously not happy to see he had survived stasis.


    "Now, now Miss Verretra, there''s no need for such hostility," a male voice answered. Here, Andaros saw a rather portly Devinian, a bit surprising since his race was usually thin as a rail.


    "This bastard killed his own mother!"


    "You know as well as I do that we are not paid to judge the convicts who are sent here," the apparently older doctor said.


    "He was convicted!"


    "Many people are convicted, and not all of them actually did what they were convicted for," the doctor told her, "and there are extenuating circumstances that are often not in the records. Could you be a dear and get four guards? They need to chain him up. Even if he may not be truthfully guilty, it''s better to be safe than sorry."


    "As you wish, Doctor," the woman answered, leaving the room shortly after.


    After his nurse had left the room, the doctor addressed him. "You can come out now," he said as he turned to one of his monitors, "I unlocked the stasis pod door, so you only need to push the door forward and it''ll do the rest of the work for you. Make yourself at home while my assistant is getting the guards to lead you to your new home."


    Andaros did as instructed and pushed. Soon the door opened upward, and he cautiously stepped down onto the grate in front of the stasis pod. Looking around, he saw an examination table nearby and sat down on it without a second thought. The good doctor visibly relaxed as he heard the sanitary cover crinkle, but Andaros completely missed this fact as he wasn''t looking toward him.


    Andaros didn''t know this, but this moment practically determined the way he would be treated for the entirety of his stay on the planet. Had he attacked the doctor, like many convicts would very possibly have, his life would likely have ended there as the doctor didn''t like those who would kill their own parents as he was said to have done. As it was, this moment was a test for the boy, a way to determine what kind of person he really was. With this, the doctor was willing to give him a chance. He decided to watch and question Andaros, who despite his furious look, appeared to be quite an honest individual if you watched his eyes carefully.


    After Andaros sat down, the doctor addressed him once again. "You''ll have to forgive my assistant. She is new, and pays too much heed to galactic news," the rotund man told him.


    "I-i-i-it''s o-o-o-okay."


    "I thank you. I don''t mean to be rude, but may I ask whether you did what they say," the gentleman asked out of apparent curiosity.


    "N-n-n-no S-s-s-sir," Andaros looked toward the doctor, and answered a little bitterly.


    "Oh dear, forgive me for forgetting to introduce myself. I am Doctor Skaelvaer Gliediv. Let me see if I can understand your circumstances from what I have observed thus far," the doctor told him.


    "You suffer from a stuttering issue you are very self-conscious about, judging by the grimace you gave after each time you finished speaking. You have naturally angry looking features and a large, well-muscled build, which has a tendency to make you look like a thug to those around you. These two things combined caused you to frequently be misunderstood. You often got in trouble for things others did, and people took your silence as an admission of guilt. Based on your look a moment ago, you expect me to not believe you, just like everyone else, but your eyes show conviction that you indeed did not do so. Therefore, I would postulate that you are, indeed, not guilty. Did I get everything right?"


    Andaros nodded, and the man couldn''t help grinning.


    "I''ll have to have my assistant teach you a bit of sign language so you can communicate a bit easier," he said. "Also, I''ll see if I can get the warden to look into your case."


    "Th-th-th-thank y-y-y-you," Andaros replied gratefully.


    "Sir, we''re . . . What the hell! Why is this bastard out here!" The woman was furious as she noticed the situation.


    "Because I let him out," Dr. Gliediv replied calmly. "As you can see, there was no issue at all with this young man."


    "AS I CAN SEE?! AS I CAN SEE?! I TOLD YOU TO STOP DOING THIS CRAP! YOU KNOW IT''S DANGEROUS! HE KILLED HIS OWN MOTHER FOR GOD''S SAKE!"


    Andaros happened to agree that doing something like this without the guards around was dangerous, but that didn''t mean that her words concerning him were not hurtful.


    "Enough! Nothing happened, and the boy was quite obedient," Doctor Gliediv answered unhappily. "The chains won''t be neccessary, he''s quite well behaved," he instructed the four guards. "Get him into some clothes, and escort him over to the orchard."


    "Yes Doctor!" The guards led Andaros out in his hospital patient styled gown immediately.


    -----


    After the four had left with Andaros, the man faced his assistant, watching her carefully. She couldn''t help squirming uncomfortably at this.


    "Miss Verretra, I''ll have to trouble you to teach him some sign language, at least enough he can get by. He has quite the case of stuttering, and is very self-conscious about it," he finally told her.


    "What, why?! He killed his mother!"


    "Because, I judge that he is telling the truth when he tells me he did not do it," he answered her perfunctorily. "Now, do me a favor and go get him situated, while I request an inquiry into the case. Teach him dilligently, and give him the benefit of the doubt, please. Have some men bring in furniture, and I insist you stay in the villa until he is capable of carrying on a decent conversation in sign."


    The woman sighed after a moment of wrestling with herself. "Fine, but if anything happens to me, I''ll haunt you ''til the day you die," she answered.


    "It won''t."


    "How can you be so certain," she asked, not convinced.


    "Over the many years I have been working here I have seen countless criminals pass through these halls," he answered. "After a long time, you get a feel for who is a true criminal and who is not, for who has committed a crime and who has not. I''ve learned to read when someone is lieing through a number of clues, despite the deceptions they may try to use, and that boy was not lieing when he answered me. Despite how disagreeable his looks may be, he is quite an agreeable child by my estimation."


    "What are you, the Earthlings'' Sherlock Holmes?"


    "Wouldn''t that make you Watson," he responded with a mischievous smile.


    "I prefer to think of myself as Watson''s granddaughter," she replied dryly, "it fits a bit more I should say."


    "Fair enough." The good doctor just shrugged at her hidden jab, and didn''t bother retaliating. "Off you go, I''ve important business to attend to."


    "As you wish, Sir."


    After his assistant left the room, a feral grin spread across the doctor''s face. "Have the boy''s case investigated. I want to know who was responsible for this," he said to the empty air.


    "Yes Sir!"


    "Hmph, they dare to send an innocent into my prison. I''ll make them wish they had never crossed me," he said, revealing row upon row of sharp predatory teeth this time as he spoke.


    There were two things the "doctor" absolutely hated, when people looked down on him, and when they perverted justice. Those who dared do either of those two things, whether within his presence or not, tended to disappear. His "people" would, of course, verify whether he was actually responsible for the crime he was accused of, but that was a mere formality as far as the doctor was concerned. The real question was which dumb bastard dared to pervert justice and had the gall to send an innocent boy to his prison.


    "*Sigh* There isn''t much I can do about his conviction now, but perhaps I can use him for that plan. . . On the plus side, there''s an honest boy around her age here now," he said after a bit of thought, "Perhaps I can hitch them up." At this, the look on the doctor''s face turned into a pleasant grin, but soon turned to a scowl. "Otherwise I could never face my old friend from his grave."


    -----


    Andaros was led out of the massive fortress and over to . . . an orchard, surprisingly enough. It looked to hold something like hybrid apple and cherry trees, of all things, and was somewhat well maintained. Within the center of the orchard was a large clearing which housed a rather impressive villa. The building seemed to be in a bit of disrepair, but seemed sturdy enough. After leading him into the foyer, the four guards warned him to remain within the orchard''s boundaries, then left.


    Andaros stood there blanky. For him it was only a week after his trial concluded, and two weeks after his mother''s death. The grief of the past two weeks was still heavily weighing on his shoulders as he stood there.


    "You trying to grow roots?" A pleasant female voice spoke up from behind him after an indeterminate amount of time, causing the boy to turn around. "Not happy to see me, huh," she asked a bit grumpily after a moment, to which he clumsily waved his hands around as he tried to indicate this was not the case.


    The woman actually giggled at his panicked response, displaying a smile that caused him to become slack-jawed in shock at the complete change in treatment she showed him. She laughed all the more charmingly at his shocked face.


    "That''s a good look for you," she told him as she continued to giggle. "Pick a room for yourself already, it''s been two hours since the guards informed the director that you had been dropped off."


    "I-I-I-I th-th-th-thought y-y-y-you h-h-h-hated m-m-m-me," Andaros said in confusion.


    "Luckily for you, the doctor believes you''re innocent, or I definitely would," she told him meaningfully. "If he says you''re innocent, it''s highly likely that you are. But if you try to do anything to me . . . Wait, how old are you anyway?"


    "S-s-s-sixteen."


    "REALLY! I thought you were older," she replied, now showing shock herself.


    Andaros just shook his head in answer, not sure what to even say to that.


    "Well, choose a room on the second level for yourself while I get some supplies sent over for the two of us. I''m stuck here until I can teach you sign language," she instructed and informed him. I''ll be he''s still a virgin, she thought secretly.


    "I-i-i-is th-th-th-that o-o-o-okay?"


    "It doesn''t really matter, it was the instructions I was given," she explained. "How are you with household repairs?"


    "I-I-I-I''m g-g-g-good w-w-w-with e-e-e-electronics a-a-a-and p-p-p-plumbing, b-b-b-but n-n-n-not s-s-s-so m-m-m-much w-w-w-with w-w-w-woodwork," he replied reluctantly.


    "I''ll get some men to repair the doors and windows on the villa and check the roofing then, but I''ll need you to take a look at the solar panels on the roof and the wind turbine generators," she told him. "Do you think you can handle checking the wiring in the building?"


    "Y-y-y-yes," he replied. The house he and his mom had shared on Meracene had used old fashioned wiring rather than a wireless power transfer array, so he was quite experienced with repairing and maintaining wiring, and insulating it when needed.


    "Well then, I''ll be outside waiting for the workers. Pick out your room while we''re waiting," the woman instructed.


    Now that Andaros was left to himself once again, he found himself overwhelmed by grief, but trudged his way up the stairs slowly despite this. Doing something was better than letting the sadness eat away at him, so he forced himself to make his way up the worn staircase, and onto the second floor. Following one of the two halls, he looked into the rooms on each side, finding a library, and a study on one side of the hall, while the other side contained several rooms containing different types of work benches.


    Returning to the stairs, he travelled down the other hall, finding the bedrooms he was looking for within. All of the bedrooms seemed to have their own washroom, and a personal bookshelf, as well as some additional shelving. From what he could tell, the woodwork was in good order, not betraying it''s age. Someone, or something, must have been maintaining the building until fairly recently.


    Andaros chose to leave the largest and most ornate bedroom to Miss Verretra, and actually chose the smallest bedroom for himself. Even with the room''s small size when compared to the other bedrooms, it was still far larger than his bedroom on Meracene had been. Thinking of Meracene brought memories of his mother, and of the day he found her murdered, flooding back to him, and Andaros sat down heavily against one of the walls, tears flowing down his cheeks.


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    Andaros just sat there with his arms wrapped around the knees he brought up to his chest for a good hour before he finally recovered himself somewhat. Eventually he began to sing in a hauntingly beautiful tenor, making up the song on the spot.


    I look around trying to see your face,


    But your presence is missing from this place.


    My heart has always relied on you,


    To help me survive, to see me through.


    Wish you were here,


    Wish you were here.


    Wish you were with me in this place,


    But now your gone without a trace.


    My heart is burdened with these tears,


    Unspoken words, and endless fears.


    Wish you were here,


    Wish you were here.


    Crying out, but you can''t hear,


    Wishing I could see your face.


    Your smile that once comforted,


    Loving arms wrapped around me.


    Wish you were here,


    Wish you were here.


    And now you''re gone away from me,


    Can''t bring you back, and I can''t see.


    What should I do, where should I turn,


    To find the path that I should take.


    I do not know what to do,


    What should I do, what can I do?


    Wish you were here,


    Wish you were here.


    I''ll be fine, I''ll face the world,


    I''ll cast aside my endless fears.


    I realize it won''t be easy,


    I Realize it will be hard.


    I will not run, I will not hide,


    But still I wish you were here.


    Wish you were here,


    Wish you were here.


    -----


    Reiya Verretra heard the hauntingly beautiful singing coming from the villa, and found herself wondering where it was coming from. Her heart refused to believe it was coming from that boy, who would sing in such a longing voice after slaughtering his mother? She could only imagine someone who was innocent doing so, and she still didn''t really believe he didn''t do it despite the doctor''s opinion on the matter. She curiously entered the building, and followed the voice up the stairs and to the right.


    Locating the room the voice was coming from, she walked down the hall. The song ended when she was halfway down the hallway, but she continued on to that room. Looking inside, the only one she found within the room was Andaros. He was sitting with his back towards the wall, his arms wrapped around his knees, and tears streaming down his face as he stared toward the floor of the room. Looking at him, it was obvious that Andaros wasn''t actually seeing the floor.


    Seeing this sight, and having heard his song, truthfully changed the opinion Reiya had toward him. Previously she had treated him politely in an attempt to lessen any grudges Andaros may have toward her while she was forced to live together with him. She still hadn''t believed in his innocence, but now she found herself believing he truly had not commited the crime he was accused of. She found herself thinking that any man who could compose such a requiem for his mother was unlikely to have been the culprit behind her death.


    It was still unnerving that his face always appeared angry, but watching him she found that his facial features were quite handsome now that her belief in his guilt and innocence had changed. Before she knew it, she began to move forward to comfort him.


    -----


    Memories flashed across Andaros''s mind. Memories of the times his mother disciplined him, but also memories of all the times she comforted him.


    Maria Terasien was by no means always hard on him, she practiced tough love, but was quite fair. In fact, when it didn''t come to public perception, she could even be considered lenient. She adored her only son, and despite not being able to provide him with the latest and greatest, she provided him with the one thing every child really needs, love. Whenever she was at home she always had time for her son, and would spend hours helping him to understand his school subjects, and work on various projects.


    His mother was the only parent he had so it fell on her to teach him about life, but she never once complained about raising him by herself. She made sure he understood about life, and taught him how to maintain their house, and what amenities they could afford. It was from her that he gained his knack for electronics, and from her he learned common sense and kindness to others.


    Andaros''s thoughts were interrupted as he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He looked up to find the doctor''s assistant, Miss Verretra standing there with concern covering her face.


    "I''m sorry," she told him, "Sorry for the way I acted earlier, and for my words. Do you think we could start over?" She wasn''t afraid to admit when she was wrong. After seeing him nod, she introduced herself. "My name is Reiya Verretra, pleased to meet you Mister Terasien," she said, extending a hand toward him.


    "U-u-u-um, A-A-A-Andaros," he replied clumsily taking that hand and giving it a few slight shakes.


    "What was she like? If you don''t mind me asking that is."


    Andaros hesitated or a minute, mainly because of his stuttering and how long it would take him to tell her anything. After a long moment of silence, he began to speak in his halting voice.


    "M-M-M-Mom w-w-w-was th-th-th-the m-m-m-most c-c-c-caring w-w-w-woman I-I-I-I kn-kn-kn-knew . . ."


    He began to haltingly tell her a great deal about his mother, and relate to her a number of stories of small things she had done for him. They were things most teenagers and children would forget, or completely miss, but Andaros remembered in great detail and was very thankful to them.


    One time, Andaros fell down the stairs and scraped up his knees and elbows very badly, he also earned himself a large bump on the head during the fall. Maria fretted over him for hours, cleaning and bandaging the wounds on his knees, elbows, and forehead, and making sure there was no further damage or trauma to her son.


    Another time, she stayed up all day and night two days in a row while he was sick in bed, caring for him constantly while he suffered from a high fever.


    Yet another time, she took him to a nearby zoo despite their tight funds. She spent the entire day explaining what various creatures were, where they came from, and what their various habits and survival mechanisms were. Andaros remembered seeing her carefully packing a lunch the night before which they ate that day, he related it in great detail.


    For her part, Reiya listened attentively as Andaros spoke, not interrupting despite the long drawn out sentences, something Andaros greatly appreciated. She thoughtfully asked questions about various details and actively participated. She was amazed that someone with such a stuttering issue could be such an engaging storyteller.


    Despite his issues speaking, Andaros enjoyed speaking to her. One particular memory caught Reiya''s attention exceptionally well.


    -----


    That first day had been a balmy one, and as Andaros trudged along through the woods, he was covered in sweat before long. He and his mother were on a camping trip, and were stopping at several camping sites along the way to their destination and back. The coniferous forests of the northern hemisphere of Meracene were filled with lively wildlife and plants transplanted from old Earth, and Andaros was filled with wonder as they trekked along, despite the miserably hot weather.


    The animals present on the planet where typical Earth animals, so one only needed to know how to handle such creatures in order to avoid danger. Thus, it was not difficult for Maria and her son to avoid too much danger. As they made their trek, Maria taught her son basic survival tactics and knowledge.


    "See the trees? Notice how they always have moss growing on one side of them? That''s because Meracene''s star Gralvden is to the south when viewed from this hemisphere, that means that the shadows stay toward the north, and thus enough moisture is present on the northern side for the moss to grow there," she explained. "We can use this in order to find our bearings by being able to determine which way the equator is from our position. There are places where this trick cannot be used, but in general this is a viable tactic for determining your bearings when you are in a bind, and do not have access to a compass or GPS."


    "Another useful fact has to do with these coniferous trees. The cones that give the trees their designations contain seeds during this season which can be harvested if you do not have food. For these pine trees, we call these seeds pine nuts."


    "In fact, the trees of the forest offer protection and sustinence to a great many creatures. In particular, for our trip they will provide a place for us to store our food in order to avoid the probability of losing it to predators, and lessen the chance of predator attacks," she continued. These were all basic survival facts, but she continued explaining as they went along.


    Maria taught Andaros how to recognize edible plants and berries, build a fire, hunt, clean, and prepare animals for consumption, and a great many other things on that trip. The best part of the trip was when they arrived at their destination, a crystal clear lake that had a wide, low waterfall draining into it. A great many deer and other animals congregated near the lake, and they stayed there for a week just observing the wildlife.


    Not everything was fun and games however, during this trip Andaros learned to be wary of predators, he and his mother were stalked by a mountain lion. Luckily the beast was quite wary of them and never quite found the chance to attack within it''s comfort zone, but it was still a harrowing experience all the same. Maria used a number of tricks to frighten the cougar away when it came too close, or there is no doubt the lives of the two would have ended during that trip.


    Through all of his stories, one central theme stood out, the love and care Maria Terasien held for her son. She taught him how to survive, how to protect himself, and how to love. Any woman could have a child, but Maria Terasien showed herself to be a real mother.


    -----


    "She sounds like she was quite a woman," Reiya said after hearing out his stories, "I would have liked to get to know her. You really loved her didn''t you?"


    "I-I-I-I st-st-st-still l-l-l-love her," Andaros corrected, his voice filled with sadness. "I-I-I-I a-a-a-always w-w-w-will."


    "Yeah. . . I wonder what''s taking those guys so long, it''s been eight hours since you began speaking," she said awkwardly. "I hope nothing bad happened involving the convicts, or the wildlife."


    "Sh-sh-sh-should w-w-w-we g-g-g-go s-s-s-see," Andaros asked.


    "It''s probably a good idea," Reiya responded, "but we have to be careful, the wildlife here are quite ferocious. We don''t usually have too much trouble with the convicts as a result, but there''s still that possibility too."


    "W-w-w-wildlife?"


    "Yes, it''s the reason the prison has such a high mortality rate, and why only those convicted of heinous crimes are sent here," she answered his question. "It''s also the reason we''re the only prison where the convicts are fairly well-behaved, and are allowed to carry arms, they''re too busy defending themselves from the native animals to cause trouble. The orchard here is fairly safe, the beasts don''t like the blossoms, but most of the prisoners'' living areas come under daily attack. The guards and convicts have to work together in order to survive."


    "Th-th-th-that b-b-b-bad?"


    "Yeah, still want to go see?"


    "Y-y-y-yes," Andaros replied with a nod. He got up, and determinedly headed toward the stairs.

 Prologue: Chapter Two - A harrowing situation

    I have decided to save everyone the trouble, and migraines of reading as Andaros stutters his head off. As such, I will be "translating" his stuttering in longer sentences. Unfortunately, everyone will have to put up with it in shorter sentences. I have also noticed some discrepancies between what I originally intended to input and what I actually inputted, so I have fixed those errors. The Mroa are not sabertooth tigers, just to let you all know. As for the adjustment for stutters, I will be stating that he did so in the sentences, just to clarify that he still is doing so.


    **********


    The two headed down the stairs and out the front door together. Reiya led Andaros toward the nearest guardpost as that would be where the goods and supplies were heading from. In the distance they heard roaring, and the sounds of battle between people and beasts.


    As they approached the edge of the orchard, Reiya held out an arm and stopped Andaros at around five meters from the outter row of trees.


    "It''s best if we don''t go any further," she told him. "The beasts generally do not reach more than one meter into the orchard before they turn back, but it''s safer to stand back here. We can still see what''s happening from here without the danger of being attacked, but without weapons continuing forward would be foolhardy."


    "O-o-o-okay," Andaros responded, concentrating on looking outward.


    Not too far in the distance, a battle was unfolding with the convicts as well as the guards facing off against the beasts of the planet. The beasts were unorganized, but far superior in strength when compared to the humanoids and three or four were facing off against one beast. There was one exception to this general rule, a giant of a man who faced off evenly against three beasts that looked to be similar to the sabertooth tigers of ancient earth.


    The humanoids were slowly, but surely losing the fight as they desparately made their way toward the orchard while protecting a number of people who were unarmed, and the carts they were transporting. As they were drawing close, another of the beasts arrived, and the giant of a man drew it to himself while anxiously calling out to the people who appeared to be workmen.


    "Hurry! We can''t hold them back much longer! Get under the shelter of the trees," he yelled, "they won''t follow us more than a meter into the trees!"


    The workmen frenziedly pushed their carts and whipped their terrified work-beasts in order to arrive within the safety of the trees. They succeeded in reaching the trees, and pushed their way inside not too far away from the two.


    "Damn it, these beast raids are only getting worse," the giant of a man, who was wearing a guardsman''s armor complained after they had reached three meters into the orchard. "We lost seven people just getting here, and three of them were outfitted in full armor. Damn, what''s with the last month?"


    As the man finished speaking, the sabertooth-like beasts backed off, wary of the orchard. While they were leaving, a huge beast resembling a very large tyrranosaur appeared and attacked the group of giant cats, decimating them. One smaller sabertooth, in an attempt to flee from the gigantic lizard, rushed into the orchard.


    "Look out," one of the workmen cried out in an attempt to warn Andaros and Reiya of the incoming danger. Unfortunately, he was too late in crying out, as the beast was already in mid air in front of Andaros.


    The next thing everyone knew, Andaros appeared to casually swat the beast to the ground in front of him. Reiya was initially just as shocked by this as the others present, until she remembered a bit of one of the stories Andaros told her about the things his mother taught him. His mother had taught him how to redirect force in order to protect himself. This knowledge couldn''t be used to harm an opponent without a lot of luck or a great degree of skill and strength, but the situation did permit for such.


    "It''s terribly light and weak," Andaros said suddenly in his stuttering voice as he looked down curiously at the sabertooth twice his size. "It appears to be malnurished."


    "It appears you''re right," the giant of a man replied as he looked at the little beast, "but I''ve never seen someone do something like that to one of the beasts here."


    "It was already on it''s way down," Andaros stuttered, "I just helped it go down faster. Still, it''s in such bad condition I don''t think I even had to do anything."


    "We should put it down before things become dangerous," one of the men nearby said, "and get away from the outside of the orchard before that thing attacks us."


    "No," Andaros replied in his stuttering voice, stepping in between the beast and them, "The beast was not attacking, even in the battle before, and it was sheer coincidence it ran into the orchard at all. I don''t think it was attempting an attack just then, it was running from that predator," he explained. "There is also the fact that killing it and spilling it''s blood is likely to have a frenzying effect on that big guy out there. It''s being held at bay now, but if any more blood is spilled in this direction I''m afraid it will attack, regardless of the orchard''s apparent ability to keep them outside."


    "Then what do we do," someone asked.


    "That''s right, we can''t just leave such a dangerous creature to roam free."


    "I''ll take responsibility for it," Andaros stammered, bending down and picking the beast up bt draping it across his shoulders, "but we''d better get out of here before the big guy finishes his meal and thinks of us as a nice after-dinner snack."


    "Too late," the giant guardsman said, "it''s coming! Run!"


    Everyone began running at the big man''s warning. Andaros was weighed down by the tiger, but he didn''t fret. "Head toward the villa," he stumbled over his words as he yelled to the workers and their protectors, then turned to a divergent direction as he yelled out, "I''ll lead it away!"


    Andaros felt a strange presence within the orchard and, with the current dillema, he headed toward it, hoping it would not be an enemy. Reiya didn''t leave him to head off with the others, but ran alongside him as he ran toward the source of the presence he felt. The two weaved through the orchard, avoiding the attacks of the powerful beast, and it''s attempt to eat them.


    "Why don''t you drop that beast," Reiya asked as they ran, "it''ll only slow you down!"


    "Look out!"


    "Ooph"


    Reiya was knocked aside by the giant Andaros had seen before. Being twilight, he thought it was a male due to the dim light and deep voice, but as it turns out, he was a she.


    "Concentrate on yourself," the purple skinned giantess yelled while dodging the tail of the enraged beast. The two began running after Andaros once they got out of the dinosaur-like beast''s attack range. The beast seemed to be quite slow in the area of acceleration, and as they dodged around, they found it was also horrible at turning quickly while it was up to speed. Using this, the three took a bit of a long route as they headed toward the presence Andaros felt.


    "Damn it! This thing just won''t given up," the giantess shouted as she dodged around a tree.


    Fortunately for her, the big lizard couldn''t shift it''s center of gravity quickly enough, and ran into the tree she just avoided. It fell over, and while it spent time flailing and bashing into the tree while attempting to get up, they were about to put some distance between it and them.


    Andaros noticed the trees increasing in size as they continued to run further into an older section of the orchard. They began to see trees of such size that they dwarfed the dinosaur like beast as they miraculously continued to avoid it''s teeth, claws, and tail. Huge roots undulated through the ground, and the three started using them to avoid the beasts''s attacks that were increasingly more difficult to dodge. They couldn''t spare a moment to rest and continued to run while running through gaps under the massive trees.


    Come on, where is it?


    -----


    The sabertoothed cat awoke to a terrifying roar, and looked back to see a horrifying sight. The Grrrv, as her people called their kind, was hot on their heels, and the young two-legs carrying her was barely managing to stay ahead of it. She was not stupid, in fact her race had the highest level of sentience of any of the native creatures on the planet. She, herself, had a level of IQ equivalent to an average human. It was not the highest in the galaxy by far, but still more than enough to qualify as a sentient creature by galactic standards.


    As a result, she was well aware that carrying her was not in the two-legs boy''s self-interest. In fact, continuing to carry her was only a hindrance to him, and only served to slow him down and endanger his life, as it limited the gaps in the roots of the trees around him that he could use to avoid the Grrrv''s attacks. Her people had recently attempted a raid on the other two-legs, and she had even tried to attack him while fleeing from the Grrrv, hoping to gain enough sustenance to flee without passing out from exhaustion due to a severe lack of food.


    Yet as she was jumping to attack, his hand came down, knocking her down and causing her to quickly drift into a slumber she did not expect to awaken from. Thus, she found herself very surprised that she was still alive, and increasingly more grateful to this young two-legs who refused to put her down despite the fact that she had almost become his killer. This boy was willing to save her despite the dangers from both herself and the Grrrv, something no beast on the planet would ever do.


    Her race was quite an interesting one. They practiced an old custom in which one who''s life has been saved by another belongs to that person, and will pledge their life completely to that being until the day they day. This meant that if this young two-legs were to succeed in saving her life she would have to pledge her life to protect him, which didn''t seem so bad considering the fact that he was so insistent on protecting her.


    Were he of the same race she would almost certainly insist on bearing his children. Almost every female has two main perogatives in raising a family, first is that her mate is willing to protect her through thick and thin, and second being that she will protect her children even at the cost of her own life. This is unfortunately not true for all females, but in general is an instinctual urge, although it can be ignored.


    In this case, the young two-legs had accomplished the first already as he was willing to protect her even despite being hunted down by a Grrrv. There is, of course, another part of choosing a mate, that being he must be of the same race, or at least a similar race that is compatible. This meant that the young two-legs would not normally be considered a candidate for a mate, but she no longer had any of her race to rely on, so her savior was currently the only possible mate she had. Yet that was a matter for the future, they may find more of her race by the time she matured enough to mate, which she believed would probably be for the best.


    The Mroa, as her race called themselves, lived in tribes similar to lion prides. These prides did not generally associate with each other, and often would only come together when they had conflicts, or when one, or both, prides were in need of more females. Generally conflicts were resolved through organized combat involving three different males from each pride fighting one on one battles against each other. The winning pride would take the spoils, usually being territory, for therir own. The losing pride would be forced to live in a smaller area, or in some cases move on. No killings were allowed.


    Battles for females were different, they were conflicts that decided the fate of a pride. As such, they were most often battles to the death, but could also end with one group leaving their young females and fleeing. Usually the second option caused severe issues for the production of the pride that ran, but there was a chance for the pride to survive rather than be destroyed and have all the females treated only as breeding vessels rather than members of the pride.


    She herself was very young by her people''s reckoning, being only six months old, but would soon be capable of reproduction. This was a mechanism for survival on this planet. The Mroa grew to adulthood quickly, but once they matured their aging process slowed to a snail''s pace. The mature females among the Mroa would go into heat every half a month and could conceive a child and give birh within four months. Their physiology was such that they could also conceive a child for up to 500 years, assuming they did not become pregnant during that time, in which case they would last longer. As far as menopause was concerned, there was no such thing among their race, and they could live for 1,500 years without the issues two-legged women experience during that time. While they do not experience the issues two-legged females do during their periods, they still experience a mildly irritating sensation during the two to three days it lasts and thus males tend to steer clear of females during that time.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    One last bit of trivia about the Mroa, they were able to mature so quickly as a result of two kinds of ancestral memory. The pride''s ancestral memory included their pride''s base language, pride culture, and the major customs their pride followed. The second type is a deeper kind that allows them to instinctually understand how to do all of the things normal animals do, such as walking without being shown how. The pride ancestral memory was passed down by the father, while the more important deep ancestral memory was passed on by the mother.


    While the female Mroa, who had yet to receive a name, not yet having matured, watched the deadliest enemy the Mroa faced chase after her and the male two-legs who carried her, he continued to run alongside the two-legged females deeper into the grove all the native creatures located nearby feared, including herself. She would likely be struggling to flee herself if not for her exhaustion, and the gigantic lizard chasing after them.


    This particular Grrrv had been stalking her pride for months. Because this creature was hunting them, they couldn''t hunt for food, and their pride had dwindled down until there were very few left. Out of desparation, they decided to raid the two-legs for food. They found a group out away from their main holdings, but their attempt failed miserably and they were attacked by the Grrrv before they had a chance to either attmpt another attack, or flee before it caught them. In her confusion she ran into the trees, and ran into the boy, and the rest was history.


    -----


    Scar was angry! He had been stalking this group of Mroa for months, and had finally pushed them toward death. He had decided to destroy them completely, but now all his plans were in ruins. Just as he was about to close his revenge, this two-legs and his friends had interfered when he was about to finish the last one off. Why was Scar so vindictive?


    To understand his motive, one must go back to many years ago. You see, Scar''s name derived from an event seventeen years before, an event that would change his status among his kind completely. Still, to understand one must also know a bit more trivia about the planet, information pertaining to the Mroa and Grrrv. The Mroa were not the only sentient beasts on the planet, the Grrrv were equally intelligent, and far more ruthless.


    The Mroa were omnivores, despite looking like lions with oversized incisors, the Grrrv on the other hand were carnivores in the truest sense. The Mroa''s idea of raising a family was tough, but they were very loving. As for the Grrrv, it was completely different, they were almost completely uncaring of their children. Grrrv females laid a clutch, and then moved on. The Grrrv racial memory was completely biased toward hunting, fighting, and reproduction. They had no racial memory for language, and only had some basic vocal queues that indicated the base emotions.


    Once Grrrv children hatched from their eggs they were on their own, and their survival was independant of their parents. Young Grrrv were very vulnerable, and rarely did they survive beyond several months old. When fully grown, they were tyrants who took great pleasure in torturing their victims before they finally killed them. They had a habit of eating their victims alive, in the most horribly slow way imaginable, before finally giving them the death blow. So, other beasts tended to actively kill any young Grrrv they found before they had the chance to grow large enough to be a danger.


    While adult Grrrv did congregate, unlike their young, they still hunted solo. Ten years ago, Scar was on a hunt when he spotted a couple of young Mroa out on their own. He attacked the young female, planning on torturing her before the male''s eyes. He was proud of his might, and that pride soon became his greatest embarrassment. He captured the female Mroa, intent on torturing her, but unlike he believed would happen, the male Mroa did not sit there in fear while he tortured the female. Against all expectations, that male Mroa attacked when he was about to begin his torture of the female, slashing his left eye and knocking him off of the female Mroa. By the time he managed to get back up, the two Mroa managed to get away without leaving a trace, no amount of searching could reveal their presence. It didn''t matter how hard he tried, he could only skulk away and hunt down something else, not daring to play with his next victim.


    Unfortunately for him, another adult Grrrv saw what happened, and by the time he returned the story had been spread among all the adult Grrrv. His pride took a huge hit that day, he wasn''t able to find the two Mroa, and more importantly he was unable to find who had spread his shame and smeared it all over his face. All he could do was accept the name he received from this event and stew in his own juices. As he could not find out who had spread the events of that day, Scar had been unable to relieve his anger. He swore he would have his vengeance upon the two Mroa and their pride. Yet, he was never able to locate them, that is until six months ago when he came across a pride of Mroa.


    It was by chance that he saw them. Out of the corner of his eye, Scar noticed a Mroa couple taking care of their recently born litter of cubs. They seemed familiar, but it took him a while to place where he had seen them. Once he did, Scar began to snarl, and almost rushed out to slaughter them at that moment, but barely managed to hold himself back. Attacking at that time would have been foolhardy as their''s was a very large pride. Instead, he had bided his time and looked for ways to dwindle their pride to a managable level.


    His first chance came when the young Mroa had been sent out for their first hunt. He stalked their hunting pack and waited for the right timing before taking one of the three cubs of that hated pair. He couldn''t toy with his prey, but then he had stopped doing so the day that damnable male Mroa had given him his scar. During that trip he had managed to get another cub from his most hated enemies'' litter, but missed out on a third when the female the two-legs was now carrying had managed to run to her pride with Scar in hot pursuit.


    The pride had managed to chase him off, much to his own chagrin, and had quickly stopped sending out young ones easily for hunting purposes. This had forced Scar into a bit of a bind, but in the end he decided to begin hunting down and dwindling the numbers of Mroa in the tribe. He decided to destroy the rest of their pride slowly and relish the despair gradually overcome his enemies. Yet, he acted cautiously, and slowly dwindled their numbers, beginning with solo Mroa, and slowly increasing the amounts only when there was no other choice. This was a gamble, but a safer gamble than outright attacking the two and their cubs. His lesser gamble paid off, and the pride slowly began to panic. He savoured the deliciousness of it all, putting off the time he would kill his prey while enjoying their despair.


    The Mroa despaired while slowly starving. It was ironic, and he enjoyed the hunt. Yet still, he almost lost his chance at revenge when the remaining Mroa attacked the two-legs hoping to obtain food to feed themselves and get away. He took advantage of the distraction the two-legs provided in order to approach, planning to take them out in one fell swoop, but his attack failed to catch the young female. While he was preoccupied with the mature Mroa, after his initial attack took out the other two young Mroa, she had run into this forest. When he finally chased after her, this two-legged male carried her and ran.


    So that lead to the current situation, Scar chased the boy while the female two-legs helped their companion now and then. It was even getting more difficult to prevent them from opening up space between themselves and him. Scar also felt a niggling feeling about this place, but in his rage he completely couldn''t think of what it might be that bothered him. Therefore, he continued to chase the boy, unaware of the danger the area represented.


    -----


    As Andaros continued to run, it became increasingly difficult to weave through the tree roots and avoid the teeth of the gigantic dinosaur-like beast that was chasing him. Many times he was forced to squeeze through a less than optimal space in order to avoid the jaws of the beast, they all were. He had to squeeze under short passages, or through thin passages that were difficult to navigate with the sabertoothed beast on his shoulders. The giantess was having an even more difficult time as she had to climb over, or widen these passages to get through, she generally stuck to climbing over if it was a short passage, and broke open thin paths that weren''t too short to quickly widen them.


    The good news was that the roots were becoming more and more maze-like, forcing the lizard to slow down at turns, and giving them time to once again enlarge the distance between themselves and it. The only problem was that they were starting to no longer see gaps in the roots. Andaros was aware that the sabertooth was awake, how could he not be when it shifted small amounts when he needed to somehow shift it in order to make it through an area? Still, he could easily tell that she was too weak to run, or even walk, on her own.


    She never struggled, or tried to get away, causing Andaros to be a bit convinced that she had some intelligence. She would often make her movements in anticipation, helping him to make it through much easier. As they continued running, he became more and more convinced that she was sentient, and that she understood that he was doing his best to save her. This was not a guaranteed thing, but it was seeming more and more certain to him.


    "How much longer do we have to run?!"


    "Ask that damn lizard!"


    "Why the hell do we even have to do this?!"


    "The important question is where we''re going!"


    "Who cares?! If we just drop that beast, maybe that other beast will stop long enough for us to get away!"


    "N-n-n-no! W-w-w-won''t d-d-d-do th-th-th-that!"


    "Argh! This is so frustrating!"


    This was the way the little bit of conversing went as they continued to run. As they rounded a corner in the maze, Reiya howled in frustration at the fact that Andaros wouldn''t drop the sabertooth, and the fact that the roots were now so tightly packed that not even the giantess could climb the walls to escape. Thankfully, the maze became harder for the huge lizard to maintain speed within, so they were able to put some distance between themselves and it.


    Coming around yet another corner, they ran out into a rather big clearing with a large hill within. Unfortunately, they could see all around the clearing and yet could not find another passage to escape.


    "Great! We''re gonna die here," Reiya screamed as they continued running, making their way for the only possible source of shelter from the beast that was chasing them.


    "We are so f****d," the giantess couldn''t help voicing her thoughts under the current circumstances.


    *RRRRRROOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!*


    The tyranosaur beast rounded the corner of the maze behind them and, with a gigantic roar, began chasing them, excitement evident in it''s manner. The three picked up speed, but no amount of effort could allow them to outrun the beast, it was quickly catching up. It was at this moment that things went incredibly wrong. Andaros didn''t notice a rock sticking up in his pathway as he had his head turned to see how fast the beat was catching up, and unfortunately his foot collided with the obstacle, causing him to trip. Andaros and the sabertooth rolled haphazardly and ended up sprawled out on the ground.


    Andaros took a moment to recover, and looked to see the sabertooth female look his way with what looked to be thankfulness, and regret. In a second, he turned to see massive jaws with row upon row of razorsharp teeth heading his way.


    "Oh shi. . ."


    -----


    A roar rang out in the orchard, a blood curdling heavy roar. All the beasts in the area turned and fled, not daring to stay near such a predator. They already had an instinctual fear of that place, but now their fears reached new heights. Few beasts would dare to brave the area near the orchard in the coming months.

 Prologue: Chapter Three - One hot night!

    Just a word of warning, there is some objectionable content in this chapter. It is not too much by my estimation, but younger readers should be advised. Mature content: Minor sexual content included.


    **********


    Andaros did the thing most people would do when about to be eaten by a gigantic lizard and not having time to get out of it''s way, he brought his arms up and covered his face so he wouldn''t see death coming. The next moment however, he heard a load thump, followed by an extremely loud roar. When he moved his hands away, he saw a giant metal arm where the beast had been. Looking back, he saw a robot of massive proportions.


    This robot had no head, just three pairs of eyes going down each side of it''s overly large torso. Each set of eyes were different colors, those colors being green, red, and yellow. The armor of the robot was a silver-white, and golden, and it had tree limbs from the trees in the orchard stuck under certain parts of the armor. This gave it a strange part-tree, part-machine look that somehow fit.


    The robot made some sounds that were somewhat familiar to Andaros, it took him a minute to recognize what it was, old morse code. Andaros was fluent in morse code thanks to his mother, she taught him it so he could use it as an emergency measure in case of getting lost. So, when the robot repeated, he was actually able to understand what the robot said.


    ''Are you okay master?''


    "I-I-I-I''m F-f-f-fine," he replied.


    ''Let me deal with this Tyrano-supremus, then I''ll help you deal with that beast.''


    "Sh-sh-sh-she''s w-w-w-with m-m-m-me."


    ''Understood, I would suggest having your companions check you for any injuries. Stuttering is often a sign of some form of trauma,'' the robot told him as it started toward the "tyrano-supremus", as it called the beast.


    "I-I-I-I''m f-f-f-fine," Andaros answered. "I-i-i-it''s n-n-n-normal f-f-f-for m-m-m-me."


    ''Understood, engaging the tyrano-supreme, you might want to get back,'' the robot replied, smashing it''s fist forward.


    The dinosaur stumbled backward as it took the hit. A moment later it let out a blood-curdling roar and swiped at the robot with it''s tail. The robot took a couple of steps backward, and Andaros hurriedly grabbed the sabertooth.


    While the beast and the robot continued fighting, Andaros carried the big cat and set her down one one side of the hill, checking if there was any damage to her. There appeared to be no problems from the fall, but she was still very weak.


    "Where did that thing come from?"


    "Do either of you have any jerky, or some kind of meat snack," he asked the other two.


    "Don''t ignore me!"


    "Reiya, calm down. Here boy," the giantess said, pulling some dehydrated meat from a pack and handing it to him. It was a sizable portion since it was for someone twelve foot tall, which would certainly help in this instance. "Make sure you tear it into small portions. She looks to have been starving for quite some time, so feeding her too quickly can be more detrimental than helpful."


    Reiya sighed at her statement. "Why are you trying to feed it," she asked, feeling very real danger in doing so. She really wasn''t sure why, but she felt threatened by the sabertooth''s presence. "What if it attacks you?"


    "These guys generally don''t attack our people without reason," the giantess explained, "and I think that big guy over there is reason enough why they were even willing to do so. From the looks of this child, they had been nearly starved to death by that lumbering oaf," she added while watching the battle between the titans. Compared to the two of them, she was rather small.


    Reiya sighed once again. "I really don''t get why we even risked our lives for this beast Qora," she told the giantess, "especially after their pride attacked us!"


    "The Saberlions have never been aggressive toward us without reason," the giantess, Qora, replied. "The last time they attacked any of us was when a group of our prisoners ruthlessly attacked a pride''s young. They didn''t kill anyone other than the prisoners who originally attacked them, and injuries to others were kept to a bare minimum."


    "Doesn''t that just mean they didn''t have the strength to do more," Reiya asked.


    "They were toying with our people, let alone the prisoners! My father was there at the time, and even he couldn''t do anything about it! You know what he told me?"


    "No, what?"


    "He told me these guys are intelligent! They were analyzing his every move, they weren''t just reacting out of instict either! They seem to have a code of honor, and the strength of the group that attacked at that time far surpassed the group we fought earlier, if what he told me is any indicator," the giantess told her in an agitated manner.


    "Are you sure he wasn''t just pulling your leg?"


    "You know my old man," Qora replied, displeased, "he wouldn''t exagerate something like this."


    "I suppose you''re right," Reiya replied, continuing to watch the fight that was coming toward it''s climax.


    -----


    While Andaros and the girls, well, mainly the girls, were having their little conversation, Scar and the robot were fighting an intense battle.


    After the tail-whip that caused the robot to stumble backward, it returned the shot with a fist charged with electricity. Scar roared as a large amount of electrons flowed through it''s body, but did not succumb to the power. He tenaciously swung his tail, knocking the robot back a bit, then charged it, headbutting the giant machine.


    The robot did not fall down as Scar expected, it grabbed onto him as it''s feet skidded backwards, digging deep trenches into the ground. Once Scar''s momentum came to an end, the robot smashed one of it''s three fingered fists into his ribcage, causing the beast to stumble backward a bit. It then proceeded to hit him another three times in quick succession.


    Scar stumbled backward again and again, and the robot followed. He swiped his tail and knocked it over, before viciously biting it''s arms and torso. He was then knocked off the robot, who got up and proceeded to hit it once again.


    The two titans continued to battle it out within the spacious clearing, continually delivering blow after blow upon the other. By this time, Scar had forgotten about the female Mroa, and was completely focused on it''s fight with the robot. The fight lasted for a long while, but eventually came to a climax as Scar rushed forward and bit the torso of the robot, refusing to let go. In response, the robot began to spin one of it''s three fingered fists and then delivered what can only be described as a drill fist, breaking through it''s ribs and delivering a blow to it''s internal organs that turned them into meat paste.


    Seeing his death coming, Scar refused to let go despite the fact that he was already on the edge of death, and tightened his jaws beyond normal limits, damaging several important internal components of the robot.That''ll teach you, Scar thought as he died, his only regret being that he was not able to finish off the spawn of the two Mroa who caused his fall from glory.


    -----


    ''Critical damage sustained. This unit will soon . . shut down forever. It. . was nice. . to finally. . be. . of . . service . . to . . . a . . . . new . . . . . mas. . . . . ter . . . . . . . .'' As the robot gave it''s final message, it''s electronic voice became deeper and deeper, until it beeped no more. It''s eyes grew dim, and finally went out all together.


    "What happened?"


    "I think they just took each other out. I don''t think even that monster could survive an attack that brutal."


    "What about the robot," Reiya asked, looking to Andaros for the answer.


    "B-b-b-broken, c-c-c-critical d-d-d-damage," he answered as succinctly as possible due to his stuttering.


    "Critical damage? That sucks. . . I wonder if we could salvage anything from it," Qora thought aloud while looking at the metal giant.


    "I-I-I-I c-c-c-can tr-tr-tr-try," Andaros replied.


    "Another time, we should be getting back," Qora quickly responded. "It''s getting pretty late, and I don''t want my men left alone for too long."


    "Anybody remember the way back," Reiya asked worriedly.


    "Uh, beats me," Qora replied.


    The two soon turned to Andaros, who shook his head sadly while absentmindedly petting the young saberlion female. The saberlion was simply sitting there, gently chewing the last of the jerky he handed her a moment before.


    "Just great, how are we supposed to get back now?"


    "No clue, but it seems she''s feeling a lot better," Qora indicated the saberlion female as she spoke.


    "Just great! No way back, and we''ve got a hungry predator feeling better!"


    "I don''t think that''s the problem here," Qora pointed out, "but let''s just see if we can find some wood and harvest some meat from that thing so we can get a meal cooked. There seems to be a spring on the other side of the hill here with a small stream flowing out of it."


    "Well, at least we have enough food for a week for all of us," Reiya said, trying to cheer up.


    "I''ll get to work on harvesting meat," Qora stated, "and the hide off that big beasty''s corpse. Maybe we can use it to make some kind of leather clothes or something for the kid. I heard from the boss that he''s not going to treat him as a prisoner for now, but we have no different clothes for him to wear."


    "Yeah, there''s enough of it, and it looks to be pretty tough if the amount of hits it could take from that robot is any indication," Reiya responded. "I wonder how intact it is after all those hits though?"


    "We''ll see," Qora answered as she took out a vibro-knife and headed toward the corpses.


    The model of knife she pulled out had the ability to turn off or on the vibration function. She liked it in case she wanted to carve or skin things. The truth was, she used it more often for such things than she did in combat, and the vibration function came it handy for cleaning the blade. She did make sure she had the blade faced so she wouldn''t get splattered when using that method to clean off the blade, but had still covered herself in blood splatter a number of times regardless of this fact.


    Thankfully, Qora managed to find a large amount of hide, and it''s accompanying scales, that had not been damaged by the giant robot during their fight. She harvested a lot of hide as a result, and put it into a special bag that was then vaccuum sealed in order to reduce the amount of decay the skin experienced before it could be turned into a usable product, hopefully without destroying the beast''s scales in the process.


    "Hmmm, I think if I use the right process on these scales, I should be able to strengthen them to be at least three times as strong," the giantess stated. "I''ll have to have my pops take a look at them and see what he can do. He might be able to make them as much as five times as strong. He''s been processing the materials from the beasts on the planet for much longer than me."


    "That''s only if we survive this," Reiya replied, a bit annoyed. "How can you be so optimistic?"


    "Meh, beats being pessimistic anyday," Qora responded. "Besides, I have a feeling that this girl here can lead us out once she recovers a bit. That is, assuming we''re polite to her at least."


    Reiya could only sigh at the answer. "We''d better be ready to bed here then," she stated, "she''s in no condition to be moving about tonight."


    "I''ll prepare some meat for dinner then, and vaccuum pack the rest for transport," Qora replied.


    "How are we going to transport all that?!"


    "Simple, the bags I brought have hover technology built in. I''ll bet I have one large enough to transport that robot even."


    "How the hell?!"


    "You know my pops," she responded, digging through her backpack. After a minute she brought out a huge bag. "Ah, I knew I had one large enough, I just didn''t want to waste it on the lizard. Btw, any clue what was damaged on the robot?"


    Seeing Andaros shake his head, she said, "Well, I wasn''t going to pack them up before, but seeing as we don''t have a clue how to get back on our own, I should be able to bag these guys. The anti-grav won''t last too overly long, but if we know where to head we should be fine. The charge each of the bags hold themselves is sufficient to last four hours without too much difficulty. We may only have two hours to move the robot however, depending on how heavy the components are."


    Qora got a fire going and meat roasting before getting to fully bagging the meat from the dinosaur-like beast, as well as the robot. She left the meat to be attended to by Reiya, who handled the cooking deftly, and soon a meal was roasted for the four. The meat for the saberlion was less well cooked, but she slightly overcooked the meat for the three of them as Andaros distracted her a bit during the cooking.


    "You know, we''ve been seeing a lot more activity from the local wildlife recently."


    During their meal, Qora brought up recent events.


    "Really," Reiya asked, showing a great deal of surprise.


    "Yeah, those primates have been pressuring us on the east side, and the hyenas on the south side, down by the desert. The west side has been experiencing raids from the different beasts that resemble the dinosaurs of ancient Earth," she told the two. "We haven''t seen any like this guy, but it doesn''t mean they''re not there. I wonder what species they are?" Qora squinted her eyes as she finished speaking, and looked toward the mostly vaccuum packed meat and hide from the beast the robot had dealt with.


    "T-t-t-tyrano s-s-s-supremus," Andaros startled her by saying. "R-r-r-robot c-c-c-called i-i-i-t th-th-th-that."


    "It did," Reiya asked, eyes raised.


    "Hmmm, was it that wierd beeping," Qora hypothesized. "What was that?"


    "M-m-m-morse C-c-c-code. . . F-f-f-from O-o-o-old E-e-e-earth."


    The answer surprised Qora greatly, and she showed it. "It''s been hundreds of thousands of years since you humans came out of Earth. What would an old code from Earth be doing here?"


    "Too bad that thing''s been destroyed," Reiya said, indicating the robot.


    "I-I-I-I m-m-m-may b-b-b-be a-a-a-able t-t-t-to r-r-r-rig s-s-s-something f-f-f-from th-th-th-the r-r-r-remains," Andaros answered hesitantly.


    "How," Reiya asked incredulously.


    Andaros could only sit there unable to explain things. The explanation would be filled with technical terms they probably wouldn''t understand. In this case, explaining would take much more time than tellling a few stories about his mother. That alone had taken half a day, but this would take far longer for him to explain in a way that made any sense at all for someone not well versed with the old Earth technologies. He wasn''t sure how an Earth Era terraforming and construction robot could remain working for so long, but it had obviously been working until earlier. He shrugged to Reiya, and remained silent. His frustration at his stuttering was coming back with a vengeance.


    Reiya pouted at his unwillingness to say more, but Qora stepped in for him.


    "Let it go at that Reiya," she told the young lady. "He likely couldn''t tell us how he''d get anything working in a reasonable amount of time, and he''s obviously frustrated with his stuttering. He''s starting to look like a devil rather than that angry look his features usually have."


    "Sorry," Reiya apologized to him. She couldn''t help sighing after being reminded of the issue. "The sooner I can teach you how to use galactic sign language, the better."


    "Indeed. Well, now that I''ve eaten and had a bit of a rest, I''d better get back to work. I want to have everything ready to go tommorrow. Hopefully your friend there is willing to help us get out of here."


    Count on it, the young Mroa thought groggily as she fell back asleep.


    -----


    Andaros awoke from a nightmare. He lived through finding his mother dead, and being convicted of a crime he did not commit. Unfortunately, it was not simply a nightmare, it was all true. Tears streamed down his cheek as he realized the truth of where he was once again.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Hearing a splash, Andaros inadvertently looked toward the only source of water within the clearing. He was surprised to see the well-endowed upper half of a naked giantess in the water, looking toward him. Rather than being angry at him for seeing her naked, as many women or girls her age would be, she had an amused look on her face as she watched his shocked look.


    "Like what you see?"


    Andaros, who was surprised by the question and reminded of of her current state, looked away in embarrassment and shame.


    "Don''t be ashamed," the giantess told him, shocking him greatly. "I was very interested in the opposite sex as well, still am, but it''s nothing to be ashamed of. Why don''t you join me? I know you got very sweaty and dirty during the run. We should clean you, and those stinky clothes you''re still wearing."


    "I-i-i-it w-w-w-wouldn''t b-b-b-be r-r-r-right," he answered, not daring to look her way.


    "What''s not right about it? Or would it shame you to bathe with a beautiful woman," she added coyly.


    "N-n-n-no," Andaros replied in a bit of a panic. He really didn''t want Qora to misunderstand.


    The giantess, for her part, couldn''t resist giggling at his panicked response. "Then, if you wouldn''t be ashamed, get your butt over here and let''s get you washed," Qora instructed. "There''s nothing wrong about a man and a woman washing together. Besides, you''re likely a bit too on the small side for me, even if I like the determination you showed in saving that sabertooth over there."


    Andaros sighed loudly. Being unable to explain yourself easily in such situations could be exceedingly difficult for someone to handle. It wasn''t like all races had the same taboos, and he shouldn''t force his ideals on others. Thinking this, he did as instructed, but still didn''t feel comfortable looking toward her, so he avoided that.


    For her part, Qora watched on with an amused expression as the young man who wasn''t all that much younger than her clumsily approached. He awkwardly took of his clothes, and she was once more amused by the reaction his body had shown. She was also a bit awkward in this situation, but nevertheless flattered by the fact that she could get such a reaction from him. She was quite happy to have someone like him around, if for no other reason than to tease him, but was starting to like the idea of him being on the planet for other reasons.


    She had been informed of her boss''s suspicions about Andaros''s situation and, after interacing with him for a little bit, happened to agree with those suspicions. Every action Andaros had taken thusfar showed him to be kind, consciencious, and self-sacrificing, even if his face could be a bit scary. If the boss hadn''t informed her of his suspicions she may have reacted the same as the people in his world had, but now she had a very positive impression of the young man.


    "Why don''t you come a bit closer," Qora said, seeing him step into the pond as far from her as he could get, "I have some soap here that we can use to scrub your body. If you sit in front of me in the water, I can help scrub your back."


    Initially, Andaros resisted that idea, he may be young but he was still a boy who was going through the later stages of puberty. He was excited by the idea, but still resisted as he was worried he may not be able to control himself. Little did he know, the giantess had no qualms with that, and was even looking forward to such a thing happening. First impressions are scary, they carry a lot of weight, and his actions had made a big first impression on her.


    After a bit of cajoling, Qora got Andaros to reluctantly sit in her lap while she scrubbed his back. He was nervous, but everything was fine. Qora gently used her hands to scoop up water, and pour it down his back. She then began scrubbing his body with a simple abrasive type soap common to less advanced worlds. Everything was going fine, and Andaros was just starting to relax when Qora suddenly wrapped her arms around him, and pressed her "assets" against his shoulders and the back of his head. At this sudden stimulation, and hearing the heavy breathing she also did in his ear, Andaros began to panic.


    Qora giggled directly into his ear. "You know, you''re really too cute, regardless of how angry you may look all the time. I just might have to make you mine," she teased. "You know, I wouldn''t mind if you were to give me a good scrubbing too," she added as she scrubbed the front of his torso with her hands.


    Luckily for him, she avoided scrubbing near his crotch, but she certainly saw his situation down there and couldn''t help grinning happily. Every women likes to feel beautiful. Even if most respond angrily out of modesty when a man reacts like that, assuming they aren''t married, they like seeing that someone considers them attractive. As such, Qora was quite happy with the reaction, even if she wouldn''t say anything more in order to avoid giving him any more ideas than were likely already swimming in his head. Teasing him was one thing, but actually going beyond that was not something she was willing to do after knowing him for such a short time.


    Andaros, for his part, was quite excited at this point, but doing his best to hold his raging hormones in check. He realized that she was just teasing him, but the stimulation was just too much, so keeping himself in check was more than just difficult. He thought that if it were any other guy they likely wouldn''t have been able to hold themselves back, and would have already jumped the giantess, proceeding to make her theirs. He miserably continued to fight the urge to do just that.


    Little did he know that anyone else on the planet would have been too scared to even allow themselves to be put in the position he was currently in. Not only was her father scary as hell, Qora was one of the more dangerous wardens to mess with. A number of males had tried to molest the woman, only to end up dead at her hands before they could actually manage to copulate. They died at her hands, and died miserably at that, dying from bloodloss after having your entire crotch ripped out was certainly something that could be considered terrible. It took a few groups dying this way before the prisoners got the point, but not one of them would now dare approach her with thoughts of raping her in mind.


    Qora was of the Hraelsen race, and stood at approximately twelve foot in height. Her race had an extremely high potential for strength as they had very dense muscular structure, but they were of average human build, just on a bigger scale. Andaros himself was quite tall for the humans of his world, standing at nine foot, two and a half inches in height as opposed to the usual six to eight feet of the humans of Meracene. This made him 3/4 as tall as her, a sizable difference, which is why her sizable breasts pressed against his shoulders and the lower part of his neck. The Hraelsen race were a warrior race in general, so they were easily inclined to violence and tended to be grumpy or unsociable toward other races, but Qora was quite a bit more genial than most.


    While teasing him, Qora found herself growing a bit attracted to this man who''s disposition was quite the opposite of his looks. He actually reminded her a lot of her father, without the grumpiness, so her attraction was quite natural, but was of a different race. There had never been an instance of Human/Hraelsen hybrids in the time that both races had interacted. This was due to many things, but the main culprits were the difference in height, and a large difference in mindsets. There had been a few couplings between humans and hraelsens, but due to the size differences they were quickly broken up. After all, it is hard to enjoy copulation when the man is either way too big, or way too small.


    Seeing the size of Andaros''s member, Qora didn''t think he''d have that issue. He wasn''t particularly large for a hraelsen, but was within acceptible limits. Despite this, Qora found that Reiya was already interested in the boy, though she''d likely never admit it, so she was hesitant to take things further. The was even when he was the only male on the planet that was up to her standards beside her father, which was completely out of the question for her race.


    Despite his best efforts, Andaros lost his fight to resist his raging hormones. As Qora was rubbing his back with her chest, he suddenly turned around amd jumped her, pushing her over in the water. Qora was shocked by the fact that a human could manage to push her over, so her reactions were delayed. Thus, as the water splashed over her body and chest, he managed to enter her. He latched onto her chest, and after that only moans of pleasure could be heard from her as her own hormones took over.


    -----


    Andaros woke up with a massive headache. How he got back in his original position, and why he was dressed and under an emergency blanket he had no clue. The last thing he remembered clearly was being in the pond with Qora rubbing her breasts up and down his back before he lost control of his hormones. After that, everything was a bit blurry, but he was sure of one thing. He owed Qora a serious apology, and much more.


    He looked toward the fire, where it appeared food was being prepared, and found Reiya and Qora there. The two were eating some more meat while the young saberlion was eating a serving of her own. The three noticed him stirring and looked his way.


    "Hey lover," Qora said, giving him a sultry look, and licking her lips. Reiya, on the other hand, was giving him a reproachful look.


    "I''m sorry," Andaros stammered as he bowed down before Qora. "I couldn''t control myself, and that cost you something dear. Please, forgive me." It took him a while to finish speaking as his stuttering was worse than normal.


    Qora giggled, almost cackling. "What are you doing," she questioned. "I should be the one to apologize to you. My teasing went too far, and I took you to the point you lost your self-control. It''s my own fault for teasing you like that. Besides, I quite enjoyed our time together. Reiya, forgive him, he is a teenager with raging hormones after all."


    "That doesn''t mean he can just go bedding a woman because she''s attractive, and what were you two thinking? . . . Taking a bath together," Reiya responded, turning a dark green upon mentioning the bath.


    "Hehe," Qora giggled, giving Andaros a wink, "You just wish you had been the one to get in the water with him," she teased.


    "Enough," Reiya said, blushing a dark green, "just eat your food and shut up."


    "Yes Ma''am," Qora gave a mock salute, and went back to eating.


    "And you," Reiya addressed him, sighing heavily, "come get some food before we leave. I''ll forgive you this time, but don''t do something like this again."


    Andaros was puzzled at her response. It was obvious she knew what had happened last night, and he had definitely overstepped a few boundaries it seemed. He couldn''t figure out why she forgave him so readily. For that matter, he couldn''t understand why Qora wasn''t mad at him. If he was right, he had basically raped her, but she didn''t seem mad at all. If anything, she seemed quite happy with what had occured.


    "Don''t try to figure it out," Qora told him, seeing his puzzled look. "Our reasons are our own. I can tell you that Reiya and I are like sisters however. I''d better order the men to make some renovations to the manor so I can stay there too. Don''t want you doing anything with Reiya without her twin, that could be very. . ."


    "QORA," Reiya screamed, "Don''t go blabbing things like that."


    "It''d be best if you tell him early on," Qora told her, "You can''t fool me, I know you''re interested in him as more than just a prisoner. I''m willing to share him, seeing as I don''t really know him yet, but he shouild be aware of the issues thast come with your race."


    "You, what do you know," Reiya''s response was crisp as he glared at Qora.


    "I know you, Reiya Abraeam," Qora spoke evenly, "and I know how you think. If you weren''t interested in him, you wouldn''t have stayed by him and helped him deal with that monster I butchered yesterday afternoon."


    Reiya stayed silent on the matter. However, she handed Andaros some meat as he approached.


    "Th-th-th-thank y-y-y-you."


    "You''re welcome," she responded to him. "And you, keep quiet. I''ll tell him when I want to tell him. IF I decide to tell him."


    "Fine, fine," Qora responded with a small sigh, "I won''t say anything, but you should. . . soon."


    With that the discussion was dropped. The four ate in relative peace, but Andaros noticed Reiya glancing his way numerous times throughout the meal. Do I have something on my face, he wondered. In the end, he decided to just let things slide, and enjoy his meal with the two beauties.


    -----


    "Well, that about does it," Qora said, checking over everything one last time. Losing the bags, or their contents due to neglect would be bad, so she had quadruple-checked everything. "We should be good to go."


    "Let''s go then, better to get the annoying part done as fast as we can. We''ll be counting on you Clenvef," Reiya said impatiently.


    "Clenvef?"


    "That''s her name," Reiya answered.


    Qora just sighed, "Did you even ask her about it," she asked in exasperation.


    "No, but . . ."


    "Then we''ll ask her," Qora interrupted her, "Do you like that name?"


    The saberlion shook her head no, surprising the others, then she looked to Andaros and stepped up to him.


    "You want him to name you," Qora askef in understanding. The saberlion''s response was to nod a yes. "You saw it, pick a name, lover," Qora told him, licking her lips and teasing him.


    "I like Caera," he stumbled over the words as he told them, "because of her red fur."


    None of the others had really noticed, or thought about it, but her fur truly was a dark red color, making her look like a bloody lion. The lioness took some time to think, and then nodded in acknowledgement. Thus, Caera got her name.


    "Now that that is settled, let''s get going, the charge on that big bag will only last a couple of hours, and I can''t charge it on this planet, so I hope we can at least get it to someplace we can get to in order to salvage that robot. Lead the way Caera."


    Caera began moving, and the others followed, as well as the things they had gained from this event. It actually didn''t take them that long to get out. Caera didn''t follow their original, circuitous, route, but took them by a much shorter route than their panicked flight had allowed. In the end, they made it to the manor just before the antigravity charge on the bag with the robot wore out. Andaros was just glad they made it back, before they ran into another woman who totally had his number.


    "You made it back! Woah, what''s this," one of the guards greeted them and looked incredulously at wha they had brought back.


    "Yep, we''ll be feasting on meat from a Tyrano-Supremus tonight," Qora responded. "How''re the renovations going? I hope you didn''t just sit around while we were out."


    "No Ma''am, we''ve been working, but this place is so old it needs more work than we thought," the guardsman answered.


    "How bad?"


    "We gotta completely rebuild it," a dwarf of a man replied gruffly. "It''s not gonna collapse immediately, but the foundation is shot, and the structural supports are rotten in a number of places. We''ve already moved anything salvagable outside. Just gotta blow ''er up and rebuild it from scratch."


    "No explosives," Reiya replied, "we don''t want to damage the orchard."


    "Hmph, fine. We''re gonna need more building materials though," the man said, "this thing doesn''t have enough salvagable materials to make a building like the boss wanted."


    "I''ll fill out a material request then," Qora replied. "Include a room for me in the new design. I plan to move out here. Can''t leave you two alone, you might attack her," She teased with a lusty look.


    "U-u-u-ugh," was the only response Andaros could make in response to her provocation. She absolutely had his number. . . without a single doubt.

 Prologue: Chapter Four - Rebuilding, and the unexpected visit

    Before we get started, I wanted to apologize to my readers for this taking so long. I have no excuses, but there are two reasons why this happened. First, I got writers block near the end of the chapter, and just couldn''t make any progress. Ultimately, I had to completely remove a large section of text and rewrite it. Second, I''m ashamed to say that I started playing a game in order to distract myself from the frustration, and . . . got hooked, so that slowed down my progress as well. I apologize for this, and hope to begin to deliver chapters once a week after this, or possibly more often if I can. I hope you enjoy the new chapter, sorry about the guy hanging off the cliff over there.


    <hr>


    Andaros awoke in his tent to the sounds of hammering. He gave himself some time to fully awaken from his groggy state, then got up to dress, and get himself something to eat. As he was eating a meal of tyrano jerky and some kind of vegetable matter the site''s "quartermaster" gave him, they really had too much of that jerky left, he surveyed the progress on the reconstruction of the manor.


    It had been eleven days since they had come out of the deeper parts of the orchard with the robot, and the tyranosaur meat. During that time, the house had been deconstructed and the foundation removed, then the new foundation was laid out and poured. Since then, only the outside walls of the new first floor had been arranged. The walls were being built with salvaged wiring from the original house and the robot in mind.


    This wiring was currently being remade by one of the men who originally was sent to work with him on the manor''s wiring. The two had decided to remake and insulate the wiring so that there would be no danger of burning down the new building. Thankfully, the man was originally a metal worker. He had fallen on hard times, and turned to petty theft to make it through. Unfortunately for the man, he had been found during one such theft, and somehow killed the man who found him. Andaros didn''t know more than that, as he hadn''t wanted to share any more details than that, but suffice it to say his crimes were deemed worthy of sending him to a planet like this.


    The guards had one of their own, who knew a bit about metalworking and extruding, monitoring the process as a precaution. The main reason being that the alloy used in even ancient terraforming robots and house wiring was a lot more complex than the copper wiring of old Earth. There was also the possibility of the man doing something to cause problems, though this was much less of a reason in this environment. Good behavior could get the man a better position, while bad behavior on this dangerous planet would only get him killed by being placed on guard duty on the front line against the beasts, and in a hut outside the inner walls of the prison complex. The only place safer than there was the orchard, and Andaros was the first prisoner to be placed there since the prison complex was established surrounding the old space port.


    Despite the prison complex''s position as a city surrounding the space port, not one escape attempt had ever succeeded. In fact, not one attempt had been attempted, so obviously none had ever succeeded. There were four beings within the inner ring outside the spaceport that no prisoner would dare to cross. Three of the four were Qora, her mother, and her father, but the one they absolutely wouldn''t cross was the Director. After all, who would want to cross such a dangerous existence.


    During the week since they began working on the new manor, Andaros was constantly hounded by Qora asking things like, "Hey lover, do you want to go out for a nice romp in the orchard?" Her comments only got more suggestive or vulgar from there, and he was constantly reminded of his indiscretion. The only time he got any peace and quiet was when he was working on salvaging the parts of the robot, or taking his lessons in sign language from Reiya.


    Andaros had trouble learning galactic sign language, but was managing to slowly learn the different signs. He wasn''t anywhere near being able to carry a conversation, but had slowly memorized the movements for ten signs so far. This wasn''t incredibly slow, but couldn''t be called fast either.


    Galactic Sign Language was a derivative of old Earth''s sign language that had been slowly adapted to serve for the galactic community. When it was first introduced, it made huge waves among the galactic community. Never before had such a comprehensive set of signs been used to form a language. In fact, there had never been a sign language before. The best there was were simple signs among a few scattered races, not a comprehensive language with only signs. No one knows why it was that way back then, but since then the language had become a great diplomatic tool for races who had no vocal chords to speak of, or who''s vocal range was outside the norm.


    As for the robot, Andaros found that it had originally included photon-based weaponry. He could easily tell that the nanites which had been responsible for the upkeep of said weapons had died out long ago. His best guess was that they had been inoperable for at least ten thousand years based on the amount of build-up present on the lenses and other important parts. These were sensitive weapons, and without the little guys maintaining them, they could not be kept in a usable condition.


    So far, Andaros had only found a few weapons he thought might be salvagable and thus usable in the new manor they were building. He had requested certain features to be included in the construction, such as hidden tunnels and rooms, and certain areas that were open for such things as a computer core hidden in the walls. The end result depended on him, but these hidden rooms and alcoves were being actively prepared for whatever he could manage to cobble together in the end.


    There were already plans to lay out separate wiring for the security improvements he had in mind. The core had turned out to be in fairly good condition, but there was a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Andaros was used to salvaging and rebuilding such equipment, so it wouldn''t be a large problem to rebuild the salvagable parts and chips into something usable. Rebuilding boards was not a short process, but was doable using some of the equipment within the central prison. So, he had requested a number of board configurations using salvaged chips that were in good condition.


    These old boards were made using a special material that had properties similar to a combination of silicon, ceramics, and steel. It was a then new element found on the first planet humanity colonized outside of Earth, and had become a very necessary part of the colonies the earthlings had formed. A great deal of the original terraforming equipment used it in their boards and chips. It was extremely tough yet flexible, but did not conduct electricity, and was insanely heat resistant.


    The material wasn''t hard to reuse, but the process was lengthy. Thus, it could take months to prepare the new boards once the metals that were used to conduct power through all the boards were recovered. Andaros would be busy for a long time anyway, so he didn''t sweat the small stuff, and kept working on his salvage work. He was nearly done salvaging all the usable chips while removing the obstructions surrounding the core.


    The core itself was in good condition, though it did require some minor repairs. Andaros would consider upgrading the core and any chips he was going to use if he had the right materials, but without those materials he would be entirely unable to do so.


    There were a number of techniques to upgrade the chips without taking them apart. These techniques had been developed around certain chemicals, minerals, and molecular nano-bots in order to upgrade old technology without having to replace it. Their development had been in response to a lack of materials on Earth following the initial colonization efforts. They allowed the restructuring of the "sands" of Mars into usable metals, and also allowed the remaining humans on Earth to reuse old technologies, upgrading them into something useful without replacing them.


    Since he didn''t have access to these things on this prison planet, regular repairs, without upgrades, would have to suffice. Given the choice, he would still upgrade the core, and the salvagable parts, but he couldn''t do that, so careful cleaning and patching would have to suffice.


    -----


    It took Andaros almost six weeks in total for him to salvage all the repairable chips and boards from the robot. During this time, the house had been completely rebuilt, and the power core parts were taken into the basement, that had been part of the reason it took so long to start on the manor walls. The intended power generation room was crowded with parts to be assembled into a working power core once Andaros had the time to replace a few minorly damaged chips and boards.


    He stood at the entrance to the generator room considering whether he should rebuild the power core first, or the computer core. The damage to the power core was also minor, but was greater than that done to the computer core. Still, the computer core damage was easier to fix than the power core, so Andaros was inclined to fix it first, but without the power core being fixed he would not be able to test it properly. After a bit of debate with himself, he took the parts that needed to be repaired or replaced, and left for the workshop that had been made for him. He decided to repair everything before rebuilding and installing the power and computer cores.


    Andaros''s workshop was one of the few places he could get some peace and quiet from Qora''s constant teasing. There wasn''t any comfortable furniture or anything that interested the giantess in there, unlike her tannery. He refused to have comfortable furniture in there because he worried he would not get anything done if he did have anything too comfortable in there. Since he had a great deal of stuff to do, he didn''t wish to waste any time, and thus made the area as practical and straight-forward as possible.


    Thanks to the help of the building crew, he had been able to arrange many dividers, shelves, and drawers to hold the various boards, chips, and parts that he would be using in the manor''s security measures, as well as the basic needs of those living there. The girls had informed him that Reiya''s twin, Meiya, would be joining them in the manor, so he had decided to create a security system to protect them. His workshop was created for the purpose of creating, repairing, and maintaining the various devices, and inventions needed to maintain the manor, and the orchard.


    Andaros was quite certain that the robot that had saved them was reponsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the orchard they now resided in, otherwise it wouldn''t be so well kept. He was also fairly certain it had driven away the various creatures and kept them out of the orchard as well or they would have run across some other creatures'' trails during their escape, or their return trip from that clearing. Therefore, he determined that it would be best to build some devices capable of maintaining the orchard, and possibly driving off any creatures that might cause damage to the trees and manor.


    His idea was to possibly create some drones with old school air lifting technology, and mini cold-fusion reactors or some kind of battery power to maintain the trees, and possibly make some form of security robot to drive off any creatures that entered the orchard besides Ceara. Failing the creation of the security robots, he could try relying on Ceara to help him tame some creatures native to the planet in order to keep the dangerous creatures away. As for the drones, he intended to have the Robot''s personality control them, and possibly any security bots, to keep things in working order. Thanks to a generous offer from the prison director he had access to planetary level communication technology that would allow for this.


    Andaros walked to his workbench and set the parts of the reactor which he needed to fix down on the bench in an organized manner. He began to disassemble one of the cowlings for one of the electronic control modules, carefully removing bolts and screws while making note of where each came from, and the order of disassembly. This was his way of assuring that every single piece was returned to it''s proper place once he was finished. Reactors were never something you wanted to improperly handle, and every single part needed to be accounted for, or he wouldn''t ever try to start it back up, so he was extremely careful in handling every single part in a way that he could ensure that all were in their proper place once he finished repairs and rebuilt it.


    The  majority of this section was undamaged, but a short had occurred during the last moments of the fight with the tyranosaur. This had caused various failsafes to activate and shut down the reaction, otherwise Andaros and the girls, along with the orchard and every living thing in it, would have gone up in an explosion that may have even destroyed the prison itself. In fact, a total of three chips had shorted, throwing three important failsafes. If even one failsafe had failed to trigger, they would not be alive to rebuild the manor at all, and the tree unique to this orchard would likely disappear from the galaxy, or at least, that''s the way it was explained to him by one of the prison''s few technicians after they learned of what had happened with the robot and tyranosaur. They knew reactors far better than Andaros, so he accepted their word on the matter.


    As for the new chips he was going to install, they were third generation versions of the chips that were originally installed in the reactor. These chips had further upgraded stability, and the materials used were more durable than the original chips. Reactors were not something the people of the galaxy wanted exploding, especially ones that had a small artificial white hole and black hole maintained in a delicate balance held within, so their parts were designed to last far beyond the expected usage time of the cores. The reactor in the robot was rated at a million years, and the parts were extremely durable, though there were problems if not assembled properly.


    In the case of the cowling he was taking apart, Andaros had to be extremely careful to examine the parts and uninstall them properly so that he did not do any damage to them. While the parts were extremely durable when assembled properly, if Andaros were to damage the individual parts during disassembly or assembly it could be catastrophic, so he very carefully examined every part before cautiously taking the assembly apart. The process took hours to unassemble the first control device, and install the new chip, carefully fusing the contacts together with an advanced tool that fused matter together. The tool was something similar to a more advanced form of a blow torch, but without the heat or sparks, and with a lot more precision than even the best of those old devices.


    It took Andaros several days to unassemble the control modules and reassemble them, mainly because he had so many other things to do. Not only did he have to repair the reactor, he had to repair and install the solar panels and their new batteries as a secondary source of power, work with the crew to repair the old well and it''s associated equipment, and clean, repair and upgrade the old beam weapons. In addition to that, repairing the computer and reactor cores, and upgrading any components he could on either one, took precedent. Over a period of three months in total he was working on the repairs and refits to the various needed electronic components.


    Now it may seem like Andaros wasn''t actually that busy from the previous explanation, but you try disassembling and reassembling an unfamiliar reactor that involves a powder keg such as a black hole and a white hole being kept in perfect alignment by advanced spacial fields, and see if it doesn''t take you a great deal more than three months to make repairs to such a device. The technology was fairly steady thanks to the failsafe devices that choked the two spacial anomalies if things got out of line, but those failsafes didn''t do much for a reaction that got out of control before a certain amount of energy built up in order to activate them.


    These devices were initiallly powered by the very reactions they were meant to keep in check, so it was common sense in modern times to never power up such a reactor unless you could guarantee the failsafes were in working order, and that the reactor wouldn''t malfunction, or lose containment, before such devices could build up enough of a charge to do their jobs once things went wrong. Once enough of a charge built up, they''d maintain the charge by use of the reaction until such a time as they were needed, whether in the case of an emergency, or simply being decommissioned. Thus, it was imperative that he make certain the reactor would at least make it to that point, and the failsafes would work, a tall order considering everything else he had to do.


    Thankfully, Andaros had plenty of experience working with and repairing old, or outdated tech. If he had no such experience, Andaros would certainly have required a much greater amount of time to make the repairs and upgrades. Indeed, it was also a fairly small-scale reactor as well, otherwise it would have taken a lot more people than himself to repair.


    The solar panels were comparatively easy, but it took some time to repair them as well. They had a large number of fried or damaged solar cells. These were much easier to repair, as the prison technicians had a large number of such devices, but it was still a time consuming process. Andaros actually replaced every single solar cell and the associated power gathering systems with much newer technologies that produced a great deal more power for the same sized panel.


    Things went on like this until the three months had passed. By this time, the house was completed by the workers, and the "electronics" within the house were prepared, all that remained was starting up the reactor and Andaros could ensure the computer and reactor cores were working properly before doing trap and weapons testing. Assuming everything worked properly, everything would be fully active within the week and things would then settle down for him.


    -----


    Of course, things settling down had some dangerous possibilities for Andaros. A certain amorous giant for instance. Various things were already a bit complicated for him. Qora had insisted on Andaros sharing a room with her, albeit in the form of a two bed room with Andaros''s bed being on the upper floor while Qora''s larger bed was on the lower floor. This arrangement was due to the fact that the females of her race only ever took one mate, and by their standards the two were already married. Compared to the average female human, or any other race in the galaxy for that matter, Qora had gigantic breasts that threatened to suffocate Andaros every time his amorous mate forced herself upon him.


    Andaros was helpless to change the situation due to Qora''s father learning what had happened that night. The male giant had just shown up one day halfway through the building on the new manor''s frame.


    "Got a moment boy," her father had asked him as soon as he arrived.


    Andaros had stuttered out that he could set his current work aside if he absolutely had to.


    Qora''s father''s response was an echoing and extremely deep, "Good, let''s take a walk."


    It''s not like Andaros dared to ignore the 20 foot high male, and he was too stunned by the difference in height between the two so his response had been half in shock, but he soon put things down. The two set off for a walk into the orchard surrounding the place, and ended up at the place the battle had occured.


    "My name is Drolvrelfen," the giant told him, "but my daughter has told me about your difficulties with speaking, so you can just call me Drol."


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    "A-A-A-Andaros," he replied in a polite tone.


    "So I''ve heard," Drolvrelfen responded kindly. "You know, if she hadn''t told me that you always have an angry looking face, but you''re actually not a hooligan, and very kind, I''d probably be acting like any other foolish father out there and treating you rather rudely," he added, laughing jovially. "Do you know anything about my race Andaros?"


    "N-N-N-No S-S-S-Sir."


    "Not many do, despite our presence throughout the galaxy," he responded with a sigh. "Why don''t we sit down on the hillside and I will tell you a bit about us." After the two were seated, he continued, saying, "My people, the Drelvniir, are a bit secretive about a number of things pertaining to ourselves. Thus, there are a great number of rumours and misconceptions about ourselves. Most Drelvniir are actually rather enigmatic to the other races of the galaxy simply because we keep to ourselves most of the time. This is actually a result of a rather mild form of xenophobia our people have from our interactions with the other sentient species of the galaxy."


    "Now, don''t get me wrong. We don''t so much fear the other races," Drol continued. "No, this form of xenophobia has to do with the way other races have treated the females of our species who decide to interact with them."


    "You see, the females of our species are the only ones sometimes small enough to try to mate with the opposite sex of the other species of the galaxy. Female Drelvniir only ever mate with one male for the entirety of their lives, males, on the other hand, will often take multiple wives. You see, our people do not have any racial taboos against having multiple wives, but a problem arose when dealing with the other races. While our males will often take multiple wives, we will never abandon a female once we have mated. To us, mating is a sacred vow, binding ourselves to the other, and these bonds are honored by all of our kind."


    "At the same time, our word is also held sacred in this regard, and we will never speak falsely when it comes to who we are bonded to. Thus, when a female says she is bonded to a male she will never speak falsely, and no male would dare to profane that bond and mate with a bonded female. Bonding for us is the equivalent of the marriages of the other races, only without the marriage rites, and the divorces your races seem to use so often."


    "Truthfully, bonding for the females of our race is not a matter of choice. Once a female of our race mates, a special hormone is produced which causes her to be unable to mate with any other male for the rest of her life or she will become violently sick. If she continues to mate with males other than her original mate, she can even die from the side effects. This is not something our males have to face, and historically there have always been more females than males, so it works out."


    "If it were not for the habits of the other races, there would likely be no xenophobia at all. After all, what do we have to fear from your races. The problem that arose when dealing with your races, was that our females would often be either raped, or married by the other races, the rapes could even end in death. As for the marriages, we have no problems with males taking other wives. No, the problem we have is with these males taking our females as wives, and then abandoning our females. That lack of solidarity is disgusting to our people."


    "I have friends among your race, and understand that not all humans are this way, but I wanted to let you know about the situation," he concluded.


    Andaros was silent for a bit, considering what he had been told. "Then I have even more to apologize to her for," he said with a sigh, "but I can promise I will not abandon her. Not now, and not ever." Of course, getting this sentence out with his usual stuttering was not nearly so easy, or coherent, but Drolvrelfen listened patiently to him, and allowed him to finish uninterrupted.


    After hearing him out, the giant sat silently for a moment while he decyphered Andaros''s response, before finally answering, "That''s all I could hope for. I myself have only ever taken one wife, but as long as you''ll stay with her I can accept you taking other wives. After all, it''s common among our people. . . . . So, are you satisfied, Dear?"


    "Well enough."


    Andaros turned to see what he would consider a mousy looking female Drelvniir step out of an alcove in the roots surrounding the clearing. She was actually a foot shorter than Qora, who was apparently her daughter, and stood at 11 foot tall by his estimate.


    "I do have some concerns however," she added. "I''ve looked at the plans for the manor, and have some requirements I have okayed with the construction manager. I also have some additional requirements for you, young man."


    "First, the manor will have some adjustments made to it''s layout such that the two of you will share the same room. There will be two levels, one where you can sleep in your own bed, and a second where Qora will sleep. There will be a separate staircase connecting the two so that you can go between these levels without having to leave the room."


    "Second, you cannot ignore Qora''s needs while within the bedroom, unless she is overdoing things, this is for both of your sakes. You see, females of our race need steady attention from their mates once they have been bonded. This doesn''t mean we always need sex, but some kind of interaction and acceptance is needed. It also couldn''t hurt you to have some regular interactions."


    "Third, you cannot take other wives besides Reiya and her sister without my express permission, this is for two reasons. The reason I am willing to accept those two is because I already understand their character, and they are friends with my daughter. The other reason is that you do not want undo strife between your wives. Our people are a lot more accepting of polygamy than most of the races of the galaxy, but there can still be problems due to these relations, such as intense strife, so it''s best to be cautious on this point."


    "Fourth, if you are a criminal like all the press are saying, you must never harm my daughter, and must turn away from a life of crime. I absolutely won''t allow my daughter''s husband to be a criminal, and if you''re going to harm her I''d rather just kill you now. Luckily, the boss believes you to be innocent of the crime you have been accused of, or you''d already be dead by my husband''s hands."


    "My final requirement is that you must have an official wedding ceremony once the manor is completed," she concluded her requirements, then proceeded to explain, "My main reason for this requirement is simply that I want to see a traditional human wedding ceremony, and Qora has often told me that she would love to have such a ceremony with the man she chooses as her husband. Since you''re her mate, I want you to make her dream come true. Will you agree to these terms?"


    At the time, Andaros neither had a reason to disagree, nor any inclination to do so. He didn''t protest that he was innocent, and they probably wouldn''t have believed him if he had said he was, so he didn''t say anything in that regard. Andaros simply nodded his head, his face full of determination. Of course, his angry face ruined the expression, and the two giants couldn''t resist laughing as his expression was quite comical when combined with his angry eyes.


    "Hehe, I can see why Qora said it''s fun to tease you," her mother said. "By the by, my name if Frona. Pleased to meet you, Andaros Terasien."


    "We knew about the situation before we came,," Drolvrelfen explained when Andaros showed what could be said to be his questioning look. Frona just giggled at his facial expression, apparently she found it funny, "but we had to check. You know, to make sure you wouldn''t harm her. . ."


    "Frona was suspicious at first, but she also held me back and checked with the boss, and the Doc, before I confronted you. The Doc is an extremely good judge of character, and the truth, so we''re able to accept your word, otherwise you''d be dead. I won''t take chances with my daughter''s future."


    "He said you were an extremely honest sort, despite your thuggish looks. Still, if you harm my daughter, you will pay dearly, understood?" After Andaros had nodded his head firmly, she finished by saying, "We should be heading back, Qora is likely worrying for your safety," Frona told him. "Make sure you honor your agreement from this day forward. . . please."


    The three headed back after that, and thus some adjustments were quickly made to the manor. Adjustments which Andaros found difficult, but felt he really didn''t have the right to complain about considering what he had done. That meeting had been just over two months ago.


    -----


    It had been three months since Andaros arrived on the planet and he was finally done with the repairs and rebuilds, the only thing left to do was a full system test tommorrow. The reactor had no problems so far, but he had yet to test everything under a full load. The testing would last for around four hours at full load, both to test the reactor and the wiring, and to test the security systems for any errors. It was boring work, but Andaros was confident he could handle it, and he wanted to be certain no errors would appear in the near future. During the testing, he had arranged for everyone else to leave the orchard and wait inside the prison boundaries in case an explosion should occur.


    There was only one problem for the plan. Well, there were actually two problems. Both Qora, and Reiya refused to leave the orchard when everyone else did. The two had different reasons, but both thought he''d need help if a problem should arise, but their other reasons were different from each other.


    "I won''t leave my husband. Life is too horrible for a drelvniir female who has lost her mate, so I won''t leave," Qora said.


    "Qora is my best friend," Reiya told him while looking away. "I won''t just leave her in a lurch."


    He wasn''t sure what to think of their reasons, but he certainly wished they would both leave the site during testing. Unfortunately, for Andaros, neither young woman was willing to leave, so he was stuck with them there. Caera also refused to leave, a fact he couldn''t help wondering at. The three completely ignored any of his requests to leave, so he was forced to give up on their leaving.


    "Is it time Master?"


    "Not yet, we''ll begin in an hour."


    A slightly metallic, yet somehow pleasant female voice range out through the manor. This was the computer core''s consciousness addressing him. It had requested a female voice when he had offered to give it a voice. The reason it stated in it''s familiar morse code was that a female voice was typically more soothing than a male''s voice.


    Siri, as he had now named the core, after an old Earth search engine, had been quite surprised to come online once again last week.it had found that it''s situation was different, and it''s configuration, but had found it''s "voice box" was still present, as well as the reactor and various devices that were not parts of it''s core. It also found it''s eyes to no longer be in the same configuration, or indeed the same types as before, so it asked what was going on. Andaros quickly explained the situation, and the computer thanked him for giving it a new reason to continue existing.


    After that they had a long talk, and Siri requested a human voice so that conversations would be easier. Once they had discussed the voice, Siri had chosen a female type, and things had proceeded from there. Andaros had a lot of experience with designing such coding due to an interest in Atificial Intelligence. In fact, his computer back on Meracene had an A.I. dwelling within, he hoped nothing bad had happened to it once he had been taken away from the planet. He even requested that it be checked on through Reiya and Qora, but was unaware of any response currently.


    Not feeling very relaxed, he decided to take a walk to clear his head. Testing the reactor could be dangerous if he were not attentive enough. He left without telling anyone, or bringing Caera, not knowing the consequences that would arise from his actions.


    -----


    GrRrowRr watched the two-legs leave the cave they had created in the middle of the pink enrobed forest. He had been watching the two-legs since shortly after that frightening roar months ago. GrRrowRr was not a coward, unlike he thought the remaining members of his pride were, this young cat was intrigued by the activity he saw involving the two-legs going into and out of the deaded forest. The young Mroa was barely a week old, and highly curious, when he first started observing the two-legs who were entering the forest. He and his litter mates had just survived the attack of a vicious Grrrv which decimated what was left of their pride. The only reason the litter survived that attack is that the adults had hidden them within the roots of a small copse of trees while they tried to somehow wrestle some food from the two-legs who had left the safety of their numbers.


    That first month after the adults were killed by that monstrosity was very hellish, and they feebly struggled to survive. They lost three of their eleven members during that first month due to failed attempts to hunt for food. The fact that they didn''t lose more could be considered a miracle, but GrRrowRr didn''t believe in those. Usually their parents, and the other adults of the pride, would protect and provide for the young Mroa during this vulnerable period of their lives, but there were no longer any adults around to do so. The struggles were intense, and had left the others traumatized, afraid to leave the relative safety of that small copse of trees.


    GrRrowRr couldn''t stand it, he hated that environment, and disliked his family members as a result. He went against their pride''s customs and chose a name for himself, not only as a way to get back at the adults who had abandoned them, but to set himself apart from those scaredy cats. Now he was once again watching the two-legs that had somehow forced one of his kind into a blood debt. He couldn''t allow this two-legs to live it was demeaning to his kind, it was demeaning to him! So he watched and waited for the perfect timing to deal with him. If only he would step away from the protection of the other two-legs, and that giant female two-legs. Then, he would deal with him as he saw fit!


    Watching carefully, GrRrowRr noticed the two-legs leave the area of their cave, his time had come! He was elated, finally he would get rid of the hindrance, and get back at his elder for abandoning them! He would not let the fact that this two-legs looked terrifying hinder him! No, GrRrowRr was not afraid of anything! He would make this two-legs terrified, then kill him! He began to follow the two-legged male, already savoring his revenge for the scare he received two months ago.


    -----


    Andaros wandered through the woods trying to sort out everything that had happened in his mind, and come to terms with it. He couldn''t quite understand why everyone here trusted him so much despite his looks, which had always gotten him treated like he would commit a crime the next moment. He was, of course, grateful to all of them, but it was still a very unusual situation for him to be in. Being the odd man out for so long was difficult, but now that he had a lot of attention, like he always wished, he had trouble getting used to it.


    Despite his busy schedule, an hour a day was spent learning galactic sign language under Reiya, and at least one hour had to be spent with Qora as well. This did not include lunch or various other necessities, and Andaros just couldn''t adjust to it. Everyone was very nice, and listened carefully in order to understand him, but getting adjusted to being around others after being alone for so long was tough. A part of the issue was that he half expected everyone to start treating him poorly the next moment, which complicated things.


    Andaros wouldn''t know it, but the others found Andaros quite insightful, and the prisoners he interacted with appreciated that he didn''t bring up questions about their pasts himself, or judge them for what had happened in their pasts when they did happen to tell him. These were people who''s circumstances had led to them being here in the prison, often against their own wishes.


    One of the men was here because he had protected his family, and killed a very influencial politician in the process. The friends and family of the politician wanted to kill him, but didn''t want it to be on their hands, since the death sentence had been outlawed on their planet. So, they sent him here instead, as killing another was also a life sentence without the possibility of parole. When the director learned of the situation, he actually smuggled the man''s family to the prison, but kept them in the safety of the inner ring. They were allowed weekly visits, but only for a short while as anything more would be construed as favoritism.


    Another was on the prison planet because she had been forced into prositution, and a wealthy, and very old, client had died while with her. The man''s much younger wife was pissed to find that he had been sleeping around, and had a child with the young female, so she pressed charges as prostitution was entirely illegal on her world, and punishable by death. The prosecutor however, offered her a plea bargain in exchange for the names of any involved with the underground prostitution ring. In exchange, he sent her, and her infant daughter, to prison, but sent her here to appease the man''s wife, the equivalent of another death sentence by his estimation.


    The director, upon seeing a child arrive with the woman, was himself incensed, and had the woman, and prosecutor dealt with, permanently. Since galactic law prohibited those sent to the prison from leaving it''s confines for at least 20 years, he had the woman and her child put in the inner ring until the daughter could be weened, at which point he had Reiya''s sister, Meiya take care of the child. The same conditions were applied to her and her child as with the afore mentioned man, and the two were allowed a weekly visit. Meiya was known as Aunty Meiya to the girl, and Reiya was likewise Aunty Reiya, as a result of this arrangement.


    The other two had similar circumstances, but with a lot more twists and turns. Both had killed, but the woman hadn''t intended to, as for the man''s story, it''s more or less known what Andaros was told already.


    Continuing his walk, he thought about Caera. He really didn''t understand why she chose to stay around him. Perhaps it was the fact that she was young and had no others to rely on, but Andaros had a nagging suspicion that there was more to the situation than that. The saberlion female would often accompany him, and appeared to be watching everything around them cautiously. He didn''t know the exact reason she did this, so he said nothing. Still, it was a very perplexing situation for the young man, and he continued to wonder about it.


    There was also the situation with Qora''s parents, he couldn''t understand why the two would so readily entrust their daughter to him. He would have expected the two to at least keep her with them, and force him to have "dates" with her to satisfy the conditions for her to be safe. The current situation was quite taxxing on him, so he couldn''t help thinking of these things. Being attached to someone you hardly knew was a bit difficult, but he certainly owed her due to his actions. He would not leave her in a lurch and go off to find another woman, but the reality was that what he had done made him somewhat uncomfortable with her.


    Guilt is a powerful motivator, but it can also cause you to distance yourself from another without realizing it. Thankfully, Andaros noticed this, and he stopped himself from doing so, at least for now.


    As he was thinking, he caught something approaching at high speed out of the corner of his eye. In the next moment, he felt something tear into the muscles of his right shoulder, and was then bowled over by whatever hit him.


    "A-A-A-AAAAAAAHHHH!"

 Prologue: Chapter Five - First meetings . . . are painful!

    Andaros fought to hold back whatever had attacked him. Even as he was crushed by the beast''s weight, he held his other arm up, protecting himself as best he could, all the while receiving many smaller scratches from the beast''s claws. He was so focused and busy defending himself from claws and teeth that he didn''t get a good view of his attacker. Considering the current light, his task was already difficult without the additional distraction. It was that hour where everything was between light and darkness, and human eyes were not well adjusted to such light.  He was literally fighting for his life, and couldn''t even see his attacker.


    This went on for several minutes, as he continued to acquire fearsome wounds, before Andaros heard a roar, and whatever was attacking him  was bowled over. He turned to barely see Caera fighting another saberlion, wrestling against it, and openly battling with her claws.


    -----


    Caera had awoken from her nap to find Andaros missing. He had never been missing when she awoke before, so she panicked a bit. She found Reiya and Qora, and indicated her worried, and that Andaros was missing through the sign language they had been teaching him, or at least what she could use of it, before rushing off to follow his scent trail. She didn''t bother with whether the women followed her, and rushed off following Andaros''s scent. She had smelt a somewhat unfamiliar scent recently. Every instinct she had was warning her of danger towards the young man, and she didn''t dare ignore those instincts.


    As she rushed along she found that Andaros had wandered quite a ways from the manor. She heard Andaros cry out, and sped up even faster. Soon she found Andaros being attacked by another Mroa while trying his best to protect his vitals. His arms were covered in gashes, and she put on even more speed in her effort to protect her master. As she drew rapidly closer, she found she recognized the Mroa, it was one of the cubs her people had left in that copse of trees as a seed in case their efforts to procure food ended in disaster. He shared the characteristics of his parents, and it was quite easy for her to see he was part of her pride.


    "YOU!''"


    Caera was furious that one of her pride would dare harm her master, and launched herself angrily into the younger Mroa. Crashing into him, the two rolled quite a distance before they came up roaring, hissing, and sputtering at each other. The two traded blows, but Caera''s age and overall better condition showed itself. The young male Mroa was obviously at a disadvantage, but Caera wasn''t about to take it easy on him. He dared to touch her master, and Mroa took life debts VERY seriously.


    Caera dominated the young Mroa, who''s muscles were not nearly fully developed, and batted him around like a rag doll. Very soon she had the young Mroa down on the ground, and under her paws. Her nails dug into his shoulder, and glowered down at  the young Mroa.


    "Andaros!"


    "My God, what happened to you?!"


    Caera heard the two women cry out behind her as they saw the young human''s condition. She was relieved that they had followed her, and, reassured that Reiya and Qora were there to tend to Andaros''s wounds, she confronted the young Mroa she had pinned down.


    "What did you think you were doing to MY master?!"


    "Your master? How could you let a THING like that be your master?"


    Caera angrily roared at the young fool. "I owe him a life debt, and here I find one of my own pride attacking him?! You have shamed me, and our entire pride!"


    "Pride? PRIDE?! What would you know about the pride?! You abandoned us!"


    "Little fool! Who do you think has been watching over you this whole time?! When I learned of the deaths of the others I was heartbroken, but I have a responsibility to my savior, and as a Mroa warrior I cannot set aside the safety of my master!"


    "What are you talking about?!"


    "Who do you think it was that was keeping all the big predators away from you cubs? I couldn''t do much about you cubs during this time. I have to be with my master because of my duty, but I at least did that!"


    "What good is that? You get to live in a nice safe place, but we have to live in a small copse of trees not knowing when some predator will come in that we can''t defeat? It''s all those snivelling cowards talk about! They''re too afraid to even leave most of the time! All while you get to live in a nice safe place! Why can''t we live there?! Why can''t we be safe so I don''t have to hear them snivelling?!"


    "I''ve been trying to learn to communicate with my master and the others so I can do that, but no! You have to go attacking my master!"


    "Caera, what''s going on. Who is that," Andaros''s voice gently spoke to her in a stutter.


    Caera dreaded such a question, how was she supposed to tell him who they were to her when she had such a poor grasp of their sign language. It was then that she remembered a sign Andaros had recently learned. She wasn''t very sure if he''d understand, but she raised one forepaw and did her best to sign the word family.


    "He''s family," Reiya''s voice asked, her voice betraying both anger and confusion.


    She simply nodded her head.


    ''Sorry,'' she signed.


    "Not your fault," Qora told her. "Did any others survive?"


    Caera tapped her paw down eight times to indicate that eight others had survived.


    "Eight more? I hope they''re not like him, and won''t attack Andaros," Qora said.


    "Wait! . . . We''re not gonna be bringing them here are we?! What if they attack us like this again?!"


    "Calm down Reiya," Qora replied.


    "I will not calm down!"


    While the two were having their discussion, Andaros approached Caera, and the saberlion male she was holding down. Reiya patched up his arms while Caera was fighting, or more like beating the snot out of the younger Mroa, and thankfully there hadn''t been any dangerous wounds, though his right arm was in pretty bad shape before Reiya patched it up. The arm wouldn''t feel very comfortable for a good long while, but he''d survived the experience and being alive was always a good thing.


    Despite being in pain, and a bit nervous after that attack, Andaros approached the young male Mroa and offered his hand for him to smell. Unfortunately, the guesture "fell on deaf ears," so to speak, and the young Mroa bit him. Andaros let out a cry of pain, and Caera roared angrily at the cub.


    "Let my master go, you fool!" Caera raised her paws to attack, but Andaros styopped her with a sign from his other hand.


    "It''s fine Caera," Andaros told her while grimacing in pain and stuttering more than usual. "He''s just scared," he told her while reaching out his hand and gently petting the young saberlion''s head. "It''s okay, I won''t hurt you. There''s no reason to be afraid," he cajoled the cub in a kindly manner as he continued to pet him.


    Caera relaxxed as she saw the cub''s jaws loosen their grip on her master. She was shocked to see tears flowing down the cub''s cheeks.


    -----


    For his part, GrRrowRr was angry when the two-legs approached him, not reallizing the source of his anger. He bit him out of spite, angry that he was able to live here safely under the protection of whatever guarded this place and had scared off all the predators. He was entirely too surprised when the two-legs didn''t become angry, and instead consoled him.


    He truly had been too scared. His life was lived in constant fear since birth, and there had been no breaks from it at all. He hadn''t even realized that he was afraid until this two-legs said something. He wanted to argue, but he was shocked to find tears forming in his eyes and streaming down from them. His jaw grew slack, and he soon pulled his mouth away, mewling pitifully as he cried for the first time.


    -----


    Andaros watched the cub crying, and gently consoled him while continuing to pet him. Caera herself couldn''t help crying, and he gently petted her as well. It was a very strange sensation seeing the two big cats crying.


    "Give me your hand."


    Andaros was surprised to hear Reiya sigh from his side, and then instruct him. She quickly tended to his wounded hand as he continued absent-mindedly petting the two saberlions.


    "Honestly, he just bit you, and you completely ignore it while consoling him. Think about yourself a bit," Reiya grumpily told him, "and about those of us who have to patch you up."


    "S-s-s-sorry."


    "Just don''t make a habit out of it," Qora added in her two cents.


    "Y-y-y-yes."


    "Well, once I''ve patched you up, let''s go get the rest of the cubs to safety," Reiya surprised him by saying.


    "Sounds like a good plan to me," Qora replied. "Can you keep that cub under control Caera?"


    Caera nodded happily, then began bathing the still crying cub.


    -----


    The group soon left to gather the cubs, completely forgetting about the stress test. Siri watched them leave by use of the test drone Andaros had made to test the control and hover systems he intended to use for the drones that would be built to tend the orchard in his place. The A.I. silently decided to run the stress test while they were away to gather the cubs they had decided to bring to the orchard. It appeared that Siri may not have to control a bunch of sentries sometime in the future, not that it minded. It was, of course, capable of controlling them with ease, but doing so with a large number of robots would entail using more power.


    Using too much power would put a greater load on the power supply, and thus cause possible problems should a larger load be required than was being planned for. Of course, this wouldn''t normally be an issue if basic household appliances were used, but in the case of advanced technologies. . . they could use much more power than one might expect. Even the type of generator that had originally been aboard the A.I.''s robot had it''s limits, and overdrawing power could cause problems so it was best to be cautious.


    She, if you will, waited until the masters were nearing the edge of the orchard before putting everything in motion, and beginning the power test.


    -----


    Andaros and his group made their way to the other cubs while joined by the one they had already met. He seemed down, but followed Caera without complaint, so none of them made any complaint either.


    It took an hour to reach a small copse of trees. When they approached, the two saberlions called out to the cubs within. Caera sounded gentle, while the young male at first listened, and then angrily backed her up. It took some time, but eventually a female cub came out, nervously glancing at Andaros, Reiya, and Qora as she cautiously approached. Andaros knelt down and waited patiently with his unhurt hand forward as Caera gently coaxed her into approaching him.


    The young female cautiously sniffed his hand, but grew nervous when he moved to pet her, flinching away from him. After a bit of gentle coaxing on his, and Caera''s part, she finally let him touch her. He gently petted her, and she slowly warmed up to it. After some time, she was willing to let first Reiya, and then Qora, pet her as well. Slowly, the others joined them, first one at a time, but after a few more approached, a pair came, the final group was three at once. All told it had taken three hours for them to join the three, their litter-mate, and Caera.


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    After a bit of talking, they started to head back to the orchard. Caera being there to translate for the cubs helped a great deal, as she by this time understood them even better than she initially had. The cubs, for their part, were able to pick things up but, being as they were still immature, it helped to have Caera to speak for Andaros''s side.


    When they finally reached the orchard again, they had trouble once again. This time they had trouble getting the other eight cubs to enter into the orchard as they were terribly frightened of the place. It took another three hours to finally get them to enter the shelter of the trees.


    "Guess it''s too late for that stress test," Reiya said as they marched along.


    "Seems to be the case, let''s just get back to the manor for now."


    Andaros didn''t say anything as they walked along, his arm ached incessantly, and he didn''t much feel like speaking during the walk. When they arrived, the cubs were spooked when Siri spoke.


    "Welcome back, master, mistresses," the A.I. told them, "I see everything went well with retrieving the cubs. I took the liberty of running the stress test for you while you were gone. Everything checked out splendidly. The core was stable even under ten times the estimated maximum load based on our intended course of action, in regards to the intended security measures."


    Qora, and Reiya both let out relieved sighs. "Thank you Siri," they said in chorus.


    "You''re welcome," Siri replied graciously. "The stress test ran for six hours, roughly twice what you intended master. There was very little flucuation in the power grid during this time, so there should be no issues. I took the liberty of recording the data so that you can review it yourself at a later time master Andaros."


    "Thank you," Andaros signed.


    "Your welcome, Master. Might I suggest having the work crew build a bit of a stable or kennel building for our saberlion friends? This will allow them to have something akin to a cave, or other form of shelter for them to rest within. It could provide a peaceful place to rest, away from any hustle and bustle within the manor, or the orchard," Siri explained, her voice spooking the young saberlions a bit. They looked around trying to find where the voice came from, to no avail.


    "That sounds like it might be a wise idea," Reiya replied, ignoring the saberlions'' confusion.


    "I agree," Qora added, "though we shouldn''t put any doors in unless they agree to it."


    "We should have at least one kennel with a door," Reiya replied, "in case anyone needs to be put into timeout."


    Strangly enough, Caera nodded heartily at Reiya''s comment. She then glanced at the young male beside her. Thus, it was decided to have a building built to house the saberlions, and they continued into the manor. The young saberlions followed cautiously, only the young male GrRrowRr showed almost no fear among the new saberlions. Surprisingly, a young female seemed more curious than scared, although you could still see the fear in her posture. Andaros watched her look around with a mix of curiousity, excitement, and fear in every movement she made. It was actually quite amusing watching her looks of surprise as she looked at all kinds of things that were alien to her, and her species.


    "Well, since everything seems to be in order, I''m going to go contact the others and have them come back into the safety of the orchard," Qora said, heading off.


    "Well, let''s get things straightened out with these nine cubs while she''s getting the others," Reiya suggested, "We''ll need some place to have them rest until we can arrange a shelter for them."


    "B-b-b-basement," Andaros stated.


    "You want them in the basement? What about the reactor?"


    "I-i-i-it''s c-c-c-closed o-o-o-off," Andaros informed her, "a-a-a-and l-l-l-locked."


    "Fine, we''ll have them in there for the time being. Can you keep your family under control, Caera?"


    "I-i-i-it''s a-a-a-a p-p-p-pride."


    "What?"


    "L-l-l-lion f-f-f-families a-a-a-are c-c-c-called p-p-p-prides," Andaros explained.


    "Well, whatever they are, can you keep them in check," Reiya asked the lioness.


    Caera answered with a nod, then gave some growls, and a few small roars, to her pride. After this, they followed Andaros down to the basement. There was a fairly small room that was not being used there. As for Andaros''s workshop, even with his organization there was not much room there. It could fit a few lions if needed, but he would be unable to get any work done if more than two stayed there.


    They got all the cubs settled, and Reiya went to arrange things while Andaros stayed with Caera and the cubs. They initially had been afraid of him, but after spending a bit of time in th basement with him, they took to him like a fish does to water. When Reiya finally returned, she was surprised to see Andaros sitting cross-legged with almost all of the cubs lying closely around him, and a large number of saber-lion heads lying in his lap or on his legs.


    "How did you get them to accept you so quickly," Reiya asked.


    Andaros simply pointed at Caera, while giving a helpless look. Reiya couldn''t help breaking out into laughter seeing the intimidating "giant" helplessly sitting there surrounded by the cubs.


    "Qora''s back, but we''ll have to delay the planning of the kennels for the moment," Reiya informed him, "you''re kinda wrapped up right now."


    Andaros groaned, and Reiya broke out into laughter once again.


    -----


    Caera lazily watched Reiya tease Andaros. Seeing the display, she was very glad to have met her master and his friends. Andaros may look very scary, and was quite strong, but he was the kindest being she had ever encountered. Even her cousin, who had earlier attacked him, had somehow become attached to him within a short time. Having heard the stories of what had happened to him back on his homeworld, Caera couldn''t understand how his own people could treat him so.


    Caera really couldn''t understand humans, and their egocentricities. Even among her people it was known that first impressions couldn''t be trusted, or so she thought. It was the heart that really mattered, only through observing how another acted towards others could you get a feel for how their personality worked. Only by observing how they treated others in trying times could one see what kind of being one truly was. Andaros had shown himself to be something not often seen on their world. She didn''t have the word for it, but she knew he was something special.


    At the same time, Caera was worried that his kindness was naive, and would get him killed quickly. The planet FS-48B-7468-43F was not a forgiving or safe world, it was the kind of world where you either kill, or be killed. Creatures like the saberlions, who were honorable, and somewhat personable, were in short supply on the world. Most of the time, these groups stuck to their own. Very rarely would any race on the planet support another race. It just wasn''t common, and it was utterly unheard of for a member of any race native to the planet to forgive a member of another race for attacking them.


    Caera had fully expected Andaros to demand the cub, who called himself GrRrowRr, be killed. She dreaded having to perform the act herself, but was still prepared to do so. However, Andaros''s response had totally gone against all expectations.


    After Andaros comforted the cub, she sternly warned him never to attack Andaros again, or she would kill him regardless of what Andaros asked, there would be no more chances. Surprisingly, he had agreed to what she said, and hadn''t once tried to complain, or argue with her on the subject. The cub had made a complete turn around, and had excitedly explained how he wanted to protect the young man to the others. They, however, were very reluctant, and it took a lot of coaxing on Caera''s part to get them to get them to even come out, let alone agree to help protect the young man. Of course, GrRrowRr''s gruff response to their "cowardice" hadn''t helped get the other cubs to listen.


    Now, she would be surprised if she could pry them away from her master. Their attachment was mainly motivated by fear at this point, but they certainly warmed up to Andaros and his kindness very quickly. She hoped that over the course of the coming months the cubs would also come to trust, and wish to protect the young man as she did.


    Still, Caera felt differently toward Andaros than any of the cubs likely ever would. To Caera, Andaros was mate material far more so than any of the cubs ever would be. For her species, Caera was a bit odd, to say the least, and Andaros matched the idea of an ideal mate she desired down to a T. Of course, there was the issue with him being of another species, but his mate, Qora, also was of a different species than himself, so she wasn''t so certain this was an actually issue. She couldn''t possibly be aware of the taboos against sleeping with beasts, no native of her planet could.


    -----


    It took two weeks to design and create "The Den" for the saberlions, Andaros suggested the name based on the name for the Old Earth term for such a place, and it somehow caught on. It was designed like one large cave with smaller caves situated off the main cave. The caves used ferrocrete to simulate rock, but each had a cushioned section of the cave that was similar to a pet bed, only on a much larger scale. Each of the individual sleeping caves had lighting that could be turned off or on by a registered roar from the lion assigned that cave. There were a large number of extra caves, so the pride would have room to grow when the cubs matured.


    As for the maintenance drones, they had long since been fully assembled, and Siri was busy using them to maintain the orchard. A number of guard drones had been put together as well. They had the ability to operate on their own, but Siri could pass on instructions, and acted as a central control hub for them, while these drones were equipped with a number of weapon systems designed to scare off, or even kill the native wildlife if need be.


    Another measure Andaros had put together was a dozen robots equipped with heavier weapons. They were designed to handle that Tyrano Supremus, and thus had much heavier duty weaponry. These robots were normally docked in bays within a separate building, where Andaros could maintain them, but could be launched at a moments notice to deal with the heftier threats of the planet.


    Things settled down once everything was together, that is until one day two and a half months later when a shocking incident occurred.

 Prologue: Chapter Six - A troublesome situation

    Warning: This chapter contains material not suitable for young audiences, reader discretion is advised. This chapter also contains content similar to beastiality, the author does not in any way condone beastiality.


    ----------------------------


    Andaros was quite different from the other two-legs Caera had met in her time living with the young man, Reiya, and Caera. She knew because she had a great many chances to interact with the many two-legs who came by to deliver supplies, or bring various components for Andaros to take a look at or fix. There were also the times she accompanied the three to the main "prison" facility, those were especially eye opening.


    The "prisoners", as they were referred to by Qora and Reiya, were generally quite gruff individuals who were not so well behaved as the young man. His looks might be gruff and angry, but the way he treated others was quite the opposite. He was unlike the prisoners, who acted pretty much like they looked. These were gruff "men" and "women," as she was informed that they were referred to, and their actions showed them to be such. They lived their lives in a manner that was very rough, and even enjoyed the suffering of others to a degree that felt unhealthy to her.


    Still, they were more like what she expected on this planet. They actually reminded her of the other "saberlions". In fact, other than the unhealthy fixation with the pain and suffering of others, they were strikingly similar to her own people. These men and women were somewhat of a mix between her own elders of the past, and those tyrants known as the Grrrv. The "guards" were not much better than them, although they generally greeted her Master a bit more cordially than the prisoners did.


    Caera wondered if all the two-legs were like this, but when she asked about it Reiya refuted that idea. Apparently these people were the "dark side" of the galaxy, whatever that meant. Seeing her confused look at the time, Qora explained that they were the "seedier" side of society, the "criminals" and "scum" that society did not like being reminded they were not far removed from. As for the guards, they were the "gruffer" kinds that were typically frowned upon, but had committed no crimes. They were even individuals who had upheld the laws, albeit in ways that were frowned upon by their superiors back on their homeworlds.


    As a result, they had mostly been on the verge of losing their livelyhoods until the "Director" had contacted them, and given them the opportunity to work at his prison. These were the hardier men and women, who had still been willing to take the job after they had been warned of the conditions on the planet, that or the ones desperate enough to take the job despite any misgivings they might have. Some might regret that decision, but they were paid well enough that they would be fabulously wealthy once they completed their forty year contract. That is IF they completed their forty year contract but, even should they not, their families would be well cared for in their absence, under the terms of something they called a "contract."


    The director was rumored to be one of the wealthiest, as well as the strongest, individual(s) in existence. According to what Reiya and Qora knew, he could at least afford to buy several of the habitable "solar systems" in the galaxy, if not several of the wealthiest. Caera wasn''t entirely sure what this meant, but she imagined it meant he must have a great deal of power, or this "wealth", at his disposal. As far as the concept of solar systems, Reiya and Qora tried to explain it, but all she gathered were that these solar systems were groups of worlds like her own that circled around a star like the sun she always thought traveled across her world. It was apparently the other way around, although she did not understand the specifics at all.


    Caera''s people had no concept of the world being round. Like some of the ancient humans, they thought their world was a flat plane, something far from the truth. It didn''t help that their planet only housed one giant super-continent, and various islands located within it''s vicinity, this gave the illusion there was only a "flat" planet there. Caera had been surprised to learn the truth of the matter, and it had taken a bit of time for her to accept that fact. Andaros''s word had ended up being the thing that convinced her, but she was still the slightest bit skeptical about the matter. Still, they had produced a lot of evidence to prove their point.


    At one point, Siri, the mansion''s A.I., had shown her a "planetary survey" from back when the world was first settled by humans, the display had nearly scared her out of her fur. One moment the space it appeared in was empty, and the next a sphere of blue with a large area of mottled greens, browns, and white appeared, floating in the air. If one paced around the display they would find that the variegated mass was not flat, and what she was told were mountain ranges, plateaus, mesas, hills, and forests were sticking up from the sphere where the "continent" was located. The "mountains" were the sources of the white, and included brown as well as a limited amount of grey. The forests were green and a reddish color for the most part, a color scheme shared by the majority of the hills. Deserts were a reddish brown color, or a light tannish color. The area with what they called mesas was various shades of red.


    It was hard to make out some of these features until Siri zoomed in on areas Andaros pointed out. He usually only said the word, and then let her look it over before he had Siri zoom back out. He would then point out another feature. Reiya and Qora had to explain what each was, and how it was composed, for the young man. It was obvious that Andaros was frustrated by his lack of ability to easily explain what the various features were, and Caera sympathized, but she was never-the-less appreciative of his efforts.


    In fact, Caera was increasingly more drawn toward Andaros as she came to know him more. The young man was always looking out for others, he kept just giving without asking for anything in return. She was completely shocked by this, but somehow it totally fit him. The thing she found strangest was that his actions not only drew her attention and admiration, but as she watched the other saberlions interacting with him she saw the affects he was having on them. They were changing at an almost alarming rate, but somehow she felt the changes were a good thing so long as her family didn''t completely lose their edge.


    The boy''s treatment of others almost seemed infectious. Already, the intelligent beasts nearby had begun to act differently to her tribe. Normally she would expect them to become more aggressive and take advantage of the kindness of the cubs, but somehow the exact opposite was occurring. Already, a tribe of Badger beasts the size of a small bear had joined them in guarding the orchard, and a tribe of deer beasts were considering it.


    These beasts were normally skittish, but were gradually warming up to the young man who often went on walks outside the orchard with a number of beasts to guard him. One of the young does made Caera nervous for some reason. Her tail would always wag, and she would always prance up to Andaros playfully when he came nearby, but there was something more to it, something she couldn''t understand.


    For that matter, she couldn''t understand her own feelings, she found herself thinking of mating with the young man despite his obvious difference in race, and it was happening more and more often. She couldn''t understand why she would feel this way, but she did find herself thinking of him quite often. As far back as her ancenstral memories went back, she couldn''t find a similar circumstance of a saberlion having much thoughts toward a member of another race, and the memories pertaining to mating and choosing a mate were quite abundant. As such, she couldn''t relate to what was happening at all, it was a total mystery as to why she would be so captivated by the young man.


    Of course, there was the fact that his personality was so unique, but even so, she didn''t think that was the cause. Her obsession was getting worse every day, she had gotten to the point she practically couldn''t go for more than an hour without some fantasy involving him popping into her head, but she did her best to ignore them. The more she thought it was wrong however, the more she thought about him. She did her best to just ignore her desires, and go on with her life while telling herself she was only going to protect him. Sadly this was something she shouldn''t have done, and would lead to a very troublesome situation.


    -----


    The day it happened was bright and sunny, the few birds that had joined them in the orchard were happily twittering away in the trees and the eaves of the manor. Andaros became worn out after working for a couple of days straight on a new security device, and decided to take a nap. It was a hot day, and so he didn''t pull on the covers.


    Qora and Reiya had gone out to the prison, and were due back in a few hours. As usual, Caera was present to protect him, unaware that this day was certainly not a good day to be alone with the boy. She had been having more and more fantasies involving Andaros, but failed to connect the dots to an important event in the lives of all Mroa.


    As Andaros slept, she began far away from him, but slowly found herself moving closer and closer to the young man. Bit by bit, she drew nearer to him, all the while questioning why she would do so.


    At one point, she must have realized what she was doing, but it was too late and she became embroiled in yet another one of her fantasies. So, she failed to notice what she was actually doing. To her, at this point, she was just in a very lucid dream in which she decided to surprise her sleeping lover.


    Caera "tip-toed" up to the bed, and carefully climbed up onto it. Then carefully pulled down Andaros''s pants like she had seen Qora do many times before. It was much harder for her than for Qora, but she managed to get them off without harming him. After that, she noticed that his member was not ready, and began to lick the member over and over, until it was hard. She liked it''s taste, and so she took it into her mouth like she had seen Qora do many times.


    After a short few moments however, an itch was becoming prevalent back between her hind legs, so she moved forward, and moved herself into position before carefully lifting his member to her "womanhood," as Qora had called it, and carefully pushed back against it, slowly sliding his member into her "womanhood." She slowly slid back and forth a little bit at a time until he was all the way in.


    After that, she began to move in full movements, taking it almost out of her before slamming it all the way in. After a while, a feeling of pressure began to build up, and she soon climaxed. She looked to see if her lover had awoken, worried he might be angry with her now that she had done this without his permission, but he was sleeping peacefully.


    Everything might have gone unnoticed if it had stopped at this point, but Caera was in heat, and wouldn''t be satisfied by just this much. She grinned an almost feral grin, and then repeated the act a number of times, accepting his seed within her numerous times during her debauchery. Eventually she stopped, and collapsed half on, and half off of him. At the end, she had glanced at Andaros, and seeing a satisfied look on his sleeping face fell aslep with him still inside her. She would soon regret her acions, but at this moment she didn''t have a care in the world.


    -----


    While all of this was happening, Andaros was having a very surreal dream involving Qora.


    At first, Qora''s constant teasing of "lover boy" and the constant touching she seemed to need were quite difficult for Andaros to handle. As he was used to being avoided and shunned, this treatment had just been too different for him to fully adjust to but, he had become accustomed to it as the time had passed. Now he quite enjoyed her company but, as expected, the difference in height bothered him. The two could still be intimate, but it was harder with a height difference of approximately 3 ft.


    In the dream, Qora was much shorter, and stood about half a foot shorter than him. Her relative chest size had increased in compensation, and she seemed to weigh the same amount she currently did. The two of them made love, and she seemed tighter than usual, making the sex even more incredible.


    After they made love a few times, they were joined by a slightly saber-toothed humanoid cat female with a lythe body, and a bountiful chest. She looked like a crossbreed between sabertoothed lions and tigers was somehow combined with a human. Her eyes desplayed a gentle and kind nature that seemed to be in opposition to her wild and ferocious looks. In contrast to her dense muscular structure that made her look like some kind of female body builder, her body was incredibly soft when touching him.


    There was also a pair of girls who looked surprisingly like Reiya, but had foxes ears and nine tails, and a mixture of human and fox facial features.  Their colors were a bit strange, being a purple that seemed to change from a deep purplish blue to a bright, vibrant light pinkish purple depending on their emotions judging by what happened during the dream. Their skin was somewhere between peach and purple, and their eyes glowed golden. Other than their colors, and the color changing fur and hair, the only other difference was their backswept legs that were more like a beast''s.


    Alongside them was a girl who had draconic features on an elfish body, she was more sleek, and had smaller breasts, but her beauty was astounding. Her facial features were flawless, and she had perfect proportions overall. She wasn''t quite in the golden ratio zone, but it wasn''t far off either. She did, however have a perfect pair of buttocks that would be any a**man''s dream, and was certainly beautiful.


    Next was a chubby, but still beautiful girl who looked like some kind of deer-girl, with a crown of antlers, but she had cow-like ears, and two gigantic udders for breasts. It was obvious she had the largest breasts of the group. Her wide, flaring hips, combined with those massive udders gave her a curvaceous, but also larger figure. Her face was slightly plain, but still beautiful, and her eyes somehow displayed matronly qualities that completed the image.


    Last, but certainly not least, was an incredibly beautiful girl with a unicorn horn, and red tipped white wolf ears and three matching wolf tails. On her head was what could only be described as a circlet of antlers. Her face was pure perfection, that held beautiful black eyes which glimmered with intelligence and love, but also displayed a mischievous side that was well hidden. On her back were four large, beautiful black wings that contrasted with her ivory skin, white fur, and the light that glowed within her unicorn horn, but this contrast was not displeasing to the eye. Her chest was bountiful, but not overly large, and combined with her gently flaring hips and slim, but not overly slim, waste gave her a figure to die for. Long leen, and smooth legs any man would be enchanted by extended to the ground. She was shorter compared to him, but it was no more than a foot in difference. Below her knees was another version of backswept legs, more compact, and involving one less major joint. This was because they started below the knees, so they involved the ankles and the feet, rather than having the knees shifted upwards like the other two.


    All in all, it was just a different way of achieving a similar results, but somehow he got the feeling it was somewhat less efficient that the other leg style. Of course, he didn''t know anything with much certainty, despite the dream being his. This last, mysterious girl had the largest hold on his heart, even beating out Qora, and the twins by a large margin, but all of them had a very strong foothold in his heart. These girls all made love to him multiple times, and left him exhausted, yet strangely fulfilled.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    Not a single one of the girls was human, but it didn''t seem to bother him. He couldn''t understand how he managed to do two of them at once, but it did help him to realize it was a dream. Yet, he couldn''t detach himself from the dream, and they continued about their business before falling asleep together.


    Andaros was unaware of it at the time, but this would become a somewhat prophetic dream for his future. Still, the dream was forgotten almost as soon as he had it, and he fell into dreamless slumber after it ended. Yet, the image of that last girl stayed in his heart, the loving kindness in her eyes and actions during the dream had made a truly lasting impression.


    -----


    When Andaros awoke, he felt something warm and wet covering his member. In his bleary state, he thought that Qora must have returned and helped herself to his body at first, but then he remembered where he had fallen asleep. He was in his bed up on his level, not on Qora''s bed. The area up here was not tall enough, nor was his bed long enough for her height, it was barely long enough for his as it was. In the time he had been asleep, the sun had gone behind the clouds, and it was dark enough he couldn''t clearly see a first, so verifying with his eyes wasn''t easy until his eyes finally adjusted.


    As he waited for his eyes to adjust, he felt whomever it was shift, and a softness that was unlike the softness of human skin revealed itself to him. Instantly, a horrifying possibility crossed his mind, but he rationalized that this possibility wasn''t really possible.


    After a short while, his eyes had adjusted, and Andaros finally looked downward. As soon as his eyes had turned downward, he was stunned, it really was what he feared! There on top of him was a certain red-furred saberlioness, sleeping peacefully with her hips joined to his. He was so shocked that his brain almost refused to function, refusing the reality before him.


    NO! NO! NONONO, This isn''t possible!


    He couldn''t help screaming in his head after a moment, as he looked at the impossible scene before him.


    This can''t be real! How could something like this happen?!


    He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn''t notice the saberlioness stirred and raised her head. She tensed up when she realized what she had actually done. It caused a certain part of her to tense as well, snapping Andaros out of his dazed state.


    "WHAT THE F**K!"


    Due to Andaros''s high-strung emotional state, he ended up yelling out, using a word he would normally never use. Because of his heightened emotional state, his voice came roaring out harshly, scaring the lioness. At the exclamation, she got up and ran away, leaving Andaros there in a still shocked state. Soon he heard rushing footsteps heading his way, but failed to register them in time.


    "What happened, and why did Caera just bolt out of here looking like she was crying?! Why are you naked?!?! Oh G**, put some clothes on! Ugh, the smell! What crawled into your crotch and died?!"


    As the girls entered from two separate doors, Reiya got a good look at Andaros''s half-hard member, much to her embarrassment. She yelled out at him to get dressed, complaining about the smell that entered her nasal passages. Still, the fact that she just kept staring didn''t do anything to show that she was actually embarassed, and Andaros didn''t even notice because of his current mental state.


    "What happened here, Andaros," Qora asked. Realizing something was wrong, she didn''t joke about the situation.


    "C-C-C-Caera,"  Andaros said her name in a way that shocked the girls. His voice sounded disgusted, and angry, "Sh-sh-sh-she. . . Sh-sh-sh-she . . ."


    "She what," Qora asked.


    "W-w-w-when I-I-I-I. . . W-w-w-when I-I-I-I w-w-w-woke u-u-u-up," Andaros started to explain, "I-I-I-I f-f-f-found h-h-h-her st-st-st-straddling m-m-m-me, w-w-w-with m-m-m-my. . ."


    "So. . . You mean to say she had sex with you while you were asleep," Qora asked, picking up on the meaning.


    Andaros nodded his head, a look of disgust on his face.


    "I was afraid this might happen," Reiya said.


    "Hmmm? Afraid what might happen," Qora asked.


    "She''s gone into heat, and she gravitated toward the only eligible male she could trust," Reiya said. "Forgive her Andaros, her actions were not her own. Her hormone levels are completely screwed up, and she likely didn''t even realize what she was doing."


    "B-b-b-but, i-i-i-it''s b-b-b-beastiality!"


    "Beastiality? Oh, you mean that human taboo against sleeping with beasts," Qora replied, understanding what he meant. "Well, it''s not like I can''t understand where you''re coming from, but Caera isn''t a beast."


    "That''s right," Reiya told him unhappily, "beasts have very limited intelligence, but Caera has shown a full level of intelligence on par with humans, possibly even better."


    "Master, if I may speak," Siri addressed him.


    "Y-y-y-yes?"


    "What you think of the "saberlions" is not the entire story," Siri began. "The saberlions, as you call them, and four other races that currently survive, were originally human."


    ""WHAT?!?!?!?!""


    "W-w-w-what?"


    "Back when the colony was founded on this planet," Siri began, "everything seemed to be going quite well. The colony thrived for a time, but there was a problem. You see, there was a virus on the planet that wreaked havok with the human population. Despite the best efforts of the colonists, they could not stem the tide against the virus. The space-ship they had arrived on had been broken down and recycled into many different structures, so it was not feasible to put it back together. At the point some of the colonists thought of rebuilding the ship, it wouldn''t have mattered anyway because the pilots had all succumbed to the virus, so it was a moot point."


    "My original Master was a geneticist on the cutting edge of genetic research, but he didn''t have the neccessary tools to modify the humans normally. You see, all he had brought to the planet were genetic samples of various animals and human made hybrid animals, and the virus was wreaking havok by attacking several weaknesses of human genetic sequences. Given the materials he had available, he could modify humans, but at the time he could only do a large-scale genetic blending, targetting the weaknesses the virus was attacking. The trouble was choosing who to somehow save. He found a small sample of people who hadn''t yet been affected enough to become a problem, and then transformed six adults, and twenty children into the saberlions you know, and passed away soon after."


    "The remaining humans were desparate, so when they heard of the success with the sabelions, a few other geneticists hazarded coming here and took my master''s research, before modifying it to suit their needs. The results were not as ideal as the sazberlions my master molded, but twelve other groups managed to survive. With time, infighing, and the "help" of the tyrano-supremus, who were already present on the planet at the time of colonization, that number has dwindled to the currently remaining races. The badgers you have been interacting with are one such race, but there is a veliciraptor race, and an avian race. The avian race is the only one to retain a half-human form, but otherwise they don''t maintain much humanity compaired to the other races. There''s also the mostly deer-like race you''ve been interacting with."


    "The person who molded that avian race was not the brightest lightbulb in the box, she made them bird-brains. They''re still very intelligent, but they can''t keep their attention focused long enough to show it," Siri finished explaining, "So, it isn''t really a case of beastiality. Still, it is doubtful that Miss Caera will conceive. There is still a small possibility, however, but it is unlikely."


    "Wait, if that is the case, isn''t Andaros in danger," Reiya asked suddenly.


    "There is no need to worry mistress," Siri replied, "it appears that the DNA and RNA sequences of the human race have been modified to account for the issue already, as my scanners do not detect those genetic weaknesses in him, nor have I detected the weaknesses in any of the other races who have entered the manor since I began operating once again. My hypothesis is that humans made adjustments to their genetic structure in response to other viruses and bacteria they encountered on other worlds that targetted the same weaknesses. They either changed the genetic sequences themselves, or adapted over time, gradually removing these weaknesses. Of course, my bet is on genetic engineering after seeing what my first master did using out-dated equipment and animal genetic sequences."


    "Look, I know you''re having trouble with this issue due to your human ethics," Qora said with a sigh, "but she''s not a beast, and she''s a good girl. I''m gonna go try to find her and see if I can convince her to come back. You need to get your sh*t together, and figure out what you''re gonna do. I will warn you, if you hurt that sweet girl anymore, I''ll kick your a**. At least take a shower and get dressed, otherwise Reiya''s gonna be standing there all day staring at you," Qora teased mischievously.


    "Wha! Hey! Don''t say something like that!"


    "Hahaha! Don''t try to deny it, you were staring at it the entire time," Qora teased the nurse.


    Reiya rolled her eyes, and then stalked off. "Whatever, let''s just find Miss Kitty. Andaros. . . Just try not to hold it against her, her hormones really were messing with her mind," She said before leaving the room. Inwardly she was thinking, Damn it! Now my sister and I have another rival to deal with!


    -----


    After the ladies had left, although Qora would dispute her being a lady, Andaros dragged himself into his bathroom on the upper level of the shared room. His thoughts were pretty chaotic, but he considered that maybe a hot shower would allow him to clear his head. He didn''t know what to do and, as he let the steaming hot water flow over his body, he tried to calm down.


    Siri''s explanation only complicated matters. While it did help him to feel better as her race were once human, the fact remained that their genetics had been manipulated into a animal in form and a lot of their genetics. Technically, this did make what had happened to him bestiality, but was it truly beastiality considering their intelligence and origins? For that matter, how was he supposed to act now? When it first happened he became disgusted, and even angry at her actions. It was basically a form of rape, and he hated rapists considerin his mother''s past.


    Still, the fact remained that she was in heat and her hormones were totally messing with her head, so it wasn''t done with a fully conscious decision. Besides, Andaros had basically done the same thing to Qora in the heat of the moment, even if she joined in and enjoyed it, or appeared to at least.


    Did he really have a right to judge her actions considering his own previous actions? He didn''t know, he just didn''t know, and that''s what got to him most about the whole situation. What was he supposed to think or feel in such a situation? What should he do? No one could give him these answers, so he continued to stand there listlessly as the water poured over his body and he muddled through the problem.


    "ANDAROS! Have you seen Caera again?! We can''t find her, and we''ve looked everywhere!"


    As he was still muddling through the situation, Reiya''s voice echoed through the bath. He was immediately snapped out of his muddled state as the contents of her statement registered in his brain. Almost immediately, he turned off the hot water and began to dry himself, before dressing in the new leather clothing made from the Tyrano-supremus''s hide. Apparently the clothes were just a quick production made for comfort by Qora, and her father was making some that were designed for protection and durability, like armor.


    "Where have you looked," he asked Reiya a simple question as he stepped out of the bathroom.


    "EVERYWHERE! Didn''t I just tell you that?!"


    Reiya was distraught, she had come to be good friends with Caera, so she was very worried about the big cat. Andaros could only give a wry half-smile as he thought of a better way to phrase his question. He hesitated before asking, as the whole situation still had him confused, but finally did ask in another way.


    *Can you list where you''ve searched, and who''s searching? Are you using a specific search pattern, or is everyone just running about?*


    It took Reiya a moment to decypher Andaros''s hand signals as his grasp of sign language was still pitiful, and his real question went something like, *List . . . Location. . . Was. . . Search . . . Pattern. . . Used?* Thus, it took a moment to figure out exactly what he meant.


    "We''ve searched the manor, and checked the "cave", as well as some of the orchard. She''s never gone out very far by herself. What do you mean search pattern?"


    Andaros found an old "Paper Tablet" and brought up a drawing program, then proceeded to draw a surprisingly accurate map of the manor, orchard, and the relatively close area around the orchard. He then began to plot out a basic search pattern.


    *Follow. . . Search. . . Along . . . Lines. . . Start. . . Here. . . Move . . . To.. . Outside. If. . . No. . . Find. . . Red. . . Tommorrow. . . Will. . . Look. If I. . . Look. . . Now. . .Will. . . Make. . . Worse.*


    Andaros stumbled through telling her how to search, and that he would look tommorrow if Caera wasn''t found. He also did his best to convey that right now he couldn''t search or he''d only make matters worse. Reiya just looked at him for a minute after he finished, unconvinced at his response. Eventually she just sighed, and made certain she understood the search instructions before leaving.


    "You''re certain you''ll only mess things up?" Before she stepped outside the room, Reiya asked Andaros a single question, and stood there waiting.


    *Yes,* Andaros stood there with a face that conveyed his distraughtness over this fact. He truly wanted to go, but his emotions were still a complete mess and he didn''t want to start yelling at her when he meant to comfort her.


    After getting his answer, Reiya nodded and left, hesitating at the doorway once again, but continuing after only a few seconds.


    All things considered, Andaros actually took the situation quite well. On his home world, those who slept with an animal would be stoned, along with the animal. He grew up in a world that believed that sleeping with beasts was a horrible sin. It was a world where the act was punished by the death of the participants if found out. So, all in all, he took things very well, but his mind was still a mess. Thankfully, he realized this, and decided to get his thoughts in order, and his feelings straightened out before he did any looking.


    -----


    Caera ran, and ran, scared by the underlying anger in Andaros''s voice. She hadn''t realized that everything was real, thinking she was just having a realistic dream. When she awoke and found herself laying on Andaros, with something inside her, she panicked. When he yelled, she was so scared that she ran. She couldn''t help crying as she remembered his voice that was very different from the usual tone. His stuttering was in full effect, and even worse than normal, but his voice was so very, very full of anger, unlike his usual kind voice.


    She ran without aim, but eventually found herself in a very familiar place. This was the first place she had spent a night near Andaros, Qora, and Reiya. As she lay down near the pool of water there, she cried alone in misery, remembering everything that had happened in their short time together.

 Prologue: Chapter Seven - Kindness lends a way

    Thanks to Andaros, Caera''s life had been saved, and the lives of what remained of her tribe. He had given her a future, yet how had she repaid him? Even if it was under the influence of her first heat, she had taken him without his consent. That alone was enough reason for her entire pride to be wiped out. Because she was the eldest member of her pride and was honor-bound to him, Andaros had the power to order her and her entire pride to be killed if he wanted, and they could do nothing but accept their fate. This was all according to the Mroa ancestral laws, as passed on by the ancestral memories. Caera despaired as she thought of what she had done to her pride.


    Caera incorrectly assumed that Andaros would order her pride to be killed because of her indiscretions, and despaired as a result. She had come to think of him as a member of her pride and consider him in Mroa terms, forgetting that he was not a Mroa. This resulted in the current situation. Andaros''s anger had unhinged her logic, and she forgot all the kindness he always treated her and her family with. Of course, this was a very practical approach, but it didn''t match Andaros''s personality at all.


    -----


    Meanwhile, Andaros was thinking of Caera''s feelings. He didn''t want to accidentally hurt her by yelling at her about what had happened. Siri''s explanation truly had helped him to come to terms with at least part of what had happened, but his emotions were still high-strung, and he didn''t want to hurt her as a result of an emotional outburst. While he was still angry, he could understand the reason why it had happened, so he intended to get his anger under control, or better yet completely resolved, before he spoke with her.


    As the afternoon went by, and time progressed into evening, his worrying for the saberlioness began to overwhelm any anger he had remaining, but he resolved himself to deal with the anger before it caused hurt to Caera, or anyone else. He continued to face his anger, and found himself having a kind of argument with himself.


    It''s beastiality!


    She''s not a beast, she''s completely intelligent, and even part human.


    She used me!


    She wasn''t in control of herself at that point, her hormones took over.


    That''s no excuse!


    No, it''s a reason.


    It may be a reason, but she was still using me!


    If she had a reason, using me was not that reason, nor her intent.


    How would I know that, I never asked her about that?!


    That is a good point, but rather than getting mad, I should ask if she had a reason for losing control of herself, rather than getting mad at her without knowing anything.


    Sigh, this is tiring, why did this have to happen?


    I can''t possibly understand why it had to happen, but considering that I did a similar thing to Qora, being mad at Caera is hypocritical.


    I guess I shouldn''t be so bothered, huh?


    It can''t be helped, but I don''t want to be mad at her.


    I want to understand her. . .


    In the end, that was the decision Andaros came to. Rather than being angry, he simply wanted to understand her. This thought was enough to dissipate his anger, or so he thought. Human minds are strange in this regards, the simplest impetus can change the way someone responds to a situation completely. For Andaros, this impetus was the desire to understand Caera, although he hadn''t truly addressed his anger yet. Not just her reasons, but to understand her. This is a simple thing to desire, but a very difficult thing to accomplish.


    In fact, for the rest of his life Andaros would be seeking this very thing, though he had no way of knowing it at this point in his life. This simple, but exceedingly difficult to accomplish desire would bring the two, and those around them, through many hardships and good times. If he knew at this time what they would go through, would he have desired this? The answer is most probably yes, but he had no way of knowing, so it is a moot point.


    After he had finally realized what he truly desired, Andaros quietly contemplated every memory he had of the saberlioness. Ever since he had saved her, she was often by his side. Since she was extremely intelligent, and had an insanely good memory, she had learned galactic sign language far faster than his current pace. She had learned to write in galactic commons within a week of finishing learning galactic sign language, a feat that left the others stunned.


    She had many questions to ask, and not enough wood in the world to use to scratch words into using her claws, so Andaros was forced to work with the prison''s I.T. guys to put together a special tablet-style device that was completely impervious to the scratches of her claws, yet could still capture the movements so she could write using any one of them. In the end, they came in handy for the other saberlions as well, though only three learned anywhere near half as fast as Caera. The rest either took a month to learn each different language, or were still learning one or the other.


    Still, the fact that they could learn so quickly said a lot for their race, a frighteningly large amount in fact. Either their race were all earth-shaking geniuses, or they were extremely malleable at their age and could learn very quickly. Andaros was guessing that it was the second option, rather than the first. Caera, without a shadow of a doubt, was a extremely fast, but the others were much slower at learning than her. This lead him to believe that Caera was a genius, the ones who were half as fast at learning as her were lesser geniuses, and the rest fell somewhere in between geniuses and slow learners.


    Andaros wasn''t sure if this was the case, but decided to leave things at that. He would later learn that this estimate was incorrect, it wasn''t far off except in one point, his estimation of Caera''s level of intelligence. Caera wasn''t able to learn the two languages so quickly because she was some kind of genius. She was able to learn the new languages because of a love she hadn''t realized yet, and because of a totally different aspect of the mind, Wisdom.


    Now before complaining about this explanation, one must think carefully. Wisdom is the ability to take things learned and apply them in every day situations. There is no doubt that Caera did indeed have a lot of intelligence, but it wasn''t to the level of genius. However, Caera''s wisdom allowed her to apply what she had learned in an effective and non-harmful manner so that she didn''t waste her intelligence. If a high I.Q. makes someone a genius, a high W.Q. (Wisdom Quotient) can do the same thing, even if the concept is hard to define. The only difference is that wisdom takes into account how you should treat others and is most focused on "judgment" and understanding others. In Caera''s case, Wisdom allowed her to take what was being taught to her, and apply it to the knowledge she already had. It also allowed her to apply it to her own pride''s knowledge, and to adjust to Andaros''s moral values extremely quickly.


    This is not to say this is everything Wisdom does, or that wisdom was all that was involved in these things, but it played a huge role in them. Wisdom, for all intents and purposes, is the ability to not only consider yourself, but to consider others and apply knowledge based on that consideration, to think more of others than yourself, but not become so caught up that you think nothing of yourself or the others affected by those you are thinking of. There are many variables involved, but this is the heart of the matter.


    How does this help someone learn? An interesting question to be sure. Language is all about interaction, considering others and applying knowledge to bring about a satisfactory level of communication and understanding. Wisdom plays a large part in understanding others and their most important values, so of course it plays a large part in communication and interaction. Therefore, wisdom plays a larger role than one might think in learning a language. If it were other things, it was a different story. Caera may not have done so well in learning things like mathematics, but language was a different matter, as her wisdom helped her to understand how best to use the languages to communicate effectively with others.


    The above definition for Wisdom may be convoluted, and confusing, but it is valid. There is another way to look at wisdom however. Another definition for Wisdom defines it as integrity versus survival. How does this apply to the first definition? Integrity, at it''s heart, considers the wellbeing of others, although this is a very simplified idea of what integrity does. This second definition is not the source of wisdom, but it''s result.


    The second definition also sheds some dubiousness on Caera''s wisdom, but I assure you it is still applicable. The reason is that sexual hormones can over-write both wisdom and intelligence if in a large enough quantity. She basically had the same problem that humans do. Wisdom said to do one thing, intelligence said to do another thing, and hormones over-wrote the other two and did their own damn thing.


    This whole, lengthy explanation was not intended to belittle Caera''s intelligence. She has an above average intellect, but thanks to her wisdom, which has effects on practical application of knowledge gained, she was able to learn languages more quickly than most. Wisdom is not a simple thing, so please do not think less of it because of it''s core, it has many far reaching effects on everyday life. In essence, Wisdom will look at something in such a way that it considers how that thing will affect everything around them. This is another way of considering the core of wisdom, and perhaps one must say that Wisdom is indeed considering things with how it will affect one''s self and others, and thinking of what is best for all concerned while putting that consideration into action. After all, words without action are worthless.


    As far as the judgement aspect of wisdom, it is judging whether something is either right, wrong, or is best for all concerned. Rather than placing judgment on another person, or condemning them, this judgment is about choosing the best course of action, or use of a word, situation, or idea. Thus, this was very helpful in using the new languages.


    Andaros found himself considering something along these lines earlier as he was considering what to do, and chose the wisest course of action he could, considering his state of mind at the time.


    -----


    "So, when are you going to go look for her," Reiya asked.


    The girls had wisely left him alone the night before, but Andaros was still struggling with himself and half of the next day had already passed by this time. Reiya and Qora had been out searching the entire time, and were becoming worried that his procrastination would only make things worse for both him, and Caera.


    "I-I-I-I''m n-n-n-not," Andaros replied after a moment.


    He didn''t say anything more, and went back to the dazed look that had been on his face the entire day. Reiya didn''t like this Andaros, this was not the usual kind boy she had always seen so far. His tone had been frustratingly flat, and didn''t show a hint of emotion. If he was so angry he should just show it!


    *bam*


    Before she knew it, her fist lashed out, and the young man fell to the floor. She soon found herself saying words she wasn''t aware she was intending to say.


    "If you''re angry, you should just show it! Stop moping around and go find her!" Her voice came out of her mouth without her bidding. A kick flew out, and Andaros fell off the second level, down into Qora''s space. Her body jumped down, picking Andaros up by the waist and throwing him out the door. "Get out! If you don''t find her, don''t you dare come back to this manor! And make sure you tell her how you feel!"


    She, of course, realized where her actions were coming from, it was her twin, Meiya. This was a peculiarity among her race. It didn''t happen very often, but when twins were born, they were truly linked. They could see and feel everything the other twin was feeling, and could even act through the other twin, though this wasn''t easy to do and could only be done very rarely. This was a kind of defensive mechanism left over from the distant past. There was it''s fair share of problems, especially when it came to reproduction, but the mechanism had certainly saved their people at one point in time.


    This ability had no distance limit, and everything was seen in real time. It was highly valued by the military, where twins would be used for three purposes. The first purpose was for near instantaneous, and undetectable communication, most often between command posts, but very rarely was used on ships out on secret missions. A second usage was as special forces soldiers, with one twin being kept in a top secret secure location watching out for their twin. This type was more common than the secretive missions aboard intergalactic ships due to the fact that their ability to assist their twin was much more useful in personal combat than in ship-to-ship battles. The third usage was for spies, where the twins could near instantaneously relay important information without giving themselves away as spies.


    This ability was actually why Reiya was on the planet. The director of the facility was officially sheltering her, but she had secretly been sent to spy on the dangerous individual. It wasn''t really useful, as the director didn''t really pay much attention to her race, so when she was sent to watch over Andaros and help teach him sign language, the two were actually quite relieved. Truthfully, Reiya thought their father had indeed sent her here in order to shelter his daughters from their military.


    After Andaros ran off, Reiya felt a sense of guilt, and doubt, from her sister. She understood her worries, but she kept her sister from taking her body to stop him from going. As much as she herself might want to do so as well, she knew that it was important that Andaros and Caera made up. On one hand Caera had become an important friend to all of them, and on the other hand she was afraid Andaros would begin to close himself off if he didn''t get past this event soon. She didn''t want to see him like this much longer, especially when her sister would be arriving on the planet soon enough and was looking forward to seeing him in person. She felt appreciation coming from her sister at the thought, as she remembered what happened a month ago.


    -----


    Reiya waited nervously outside the director''s office after informing his aide of her arrival, she was always nervous when going to see the director. Even if their father was friends with him, he was one of the most powerful, and dangerous, beings in the known galaxy. His personal power was terrifying since it was such that he could destroy an entire planet on his own if he desired to do so. In fact, he had done so. . . several times.


    They had all been enemies of the galactic republic, or planets solely populated by criminal organizations who had perverted justice in cases he worked on back in the day. He had, out of his own sense of responsibility, saved any slaves or people forced to work on those planets against their will, so the justice system of the republic had turned a blind eye. They weren''t getting a cut of the profits, and he was so powerful they were forced to respond like this. Their ignoring the matters was, in fact, in order to avoid any more incidents where they lost a fleet of high end battleships that cost quadrillions of galactic credits.


    The first time he responded by destroying a planet owned by a criminal organization, they had responded with force. The leader of the first fleet to arrive had been a supporter of the organization, who immediately ordered an attack on him without allowing for his men to learn of the details. Thraxc had not only destroyed that fleet, but entirely eradicated a taskforce consisting of eight fleets of the federation space forces'' finest that had responded to the S.O.S. the original fleet released. The Federation''s legal system had tried to bring him to court but he had ignored their attempts to bring him in, and told them to investigate the fleet captain who first opened fire on him, then went about his business.


    They didn''t dare to try bringing him in again after the second try, and did as he stated, the result of their investigations totally confounded them. Not only did the Admiral have ties to that organization, but he had been embezzling a great deal of funds from the space forces, and was using them to fund over sixteen other large-scale criminal organizations. Losing the fleets was a blow, but no where near the number of fleets they had lost to those organizations. In the end, they agreed to drop the charges, but demanded that he deal with those organizations, and pay the pensions for the entire nine fleets.


    Thraxc agreed, but the prosecutors found themselves even more shocked when three months later those sixteen organizations suddenly quit their former illegal practices and began operating as legal businesses. After an investigation, they learned he had taken over the organizations and made them turn from crime, forcefully. They shuddered at these results, but were forced to accept them. After all, most of the men and women from those organizations who had done more than petty crimes had willingly turned themselves in, and any illegal goods had been destroyed, permanently. A large number of people received plea-bargains for information on what Thraxc had done in order to get them to do this. The responses left the people in the justice system shuddering uncontrollably.


    Thraxc had taken a page from Earth''s medieval history to a whole new level and drawn and quartered their leaders in front of the entire organization using cargeels, a particularly disturbing beast from the planet Ghlerf''Nevra. The saliva of cargeels would increase the pain a victim felt by one-thousand times while preventing them from fainting, trapping them in what seemed to be never-ending torment to the victims. It also had the property of coagulating blood that came into contact with the outside air much, much faster while the long-lasting poison was in effect. The howls and shrieks of pain had lasted for over sixteen hours while the beasts slowly pulled them apart, bit by tiny bit.


    The experience had been so traumatic that the criminals had willingly given themselves up, Thraxc, however, wouldn''t just let those people go. He further informed the onlookers that those who turned themselves in were required to return to the organizations upon being released back into society and all members were to work honestly in the new fields he had decided on for each branch they now formed in his new organization. Those who refused to turn themselves in, or did not return after being released would have the same situation that befell their leaders befall them.


    The secret of what had happened with each of these organizations was safely hidden away, and they were officially listed as destroyed. Thraxc''s organization had gone on to become a completely different type from what the original organizations had been, and the criminals all became model citizens following their return to society, so model the men and women who knew what had happened truly pitied them. Most of the men and women had actually been released fairly quickly, as the experience they had undergone was deemed punishment enough. Some refused the release, demanding life sentences on prison planets they would have done anything to stay away from before that time.


    Thraxc''s new organization specialized in investigation, espionage , and counter-terrorism, against large-scale criminal organizations and foreign threats. Over a period of several generations, they became the go to guys when the regular police and space military forces around republic space could not solve a case, or when they simply were unable to handle the groups, or individuals, involved. Their operatives were known to never turn against the company, and became the absolute worst nightmare of any groups that preyed on the weak and destitute. They were fearless, after all, no criminal leader could compare to Thraxc when it came to inducing fear. Over time, their loyalty wasn''t just motivated by fear, and they began to idolize the being known as Thraxc.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Thraxc''s organization, better known as "The Company", was also known for advancing the field of criminal investigation techniques and technologies. An entire division devoted themselves to this alone, and The Company''s most publicly revealed face was this one. Over the years, they had advanced the field to unprecedented heights, bringing in thousands of new innovations.


    Another well known division of Thraxc''s organization was a mercenary division. It was not easy to contract this division, as any group, no matter how benign they may appear, was investigated thoroughly before they even looked at the request.


    Several large organizations had tried to dupe them into going after legal businesses or their illegal rivals, and been either destroyed or absorbed in much the same way the original sixteen organizations had. Over time, the number of absorbed organizations after the first had come to a grand total of 42. They were encompassed in the original 16 divisions, and had all been forced to do just as the original sixteen had, all members who had committed more then petty theft had turned themselves in, and reported to the organization upon their release.


    The organization even had it''s own division of parole officers, who worked with the new members, or worked with the police forces on various planets to reform convicts. They worked closely with another division that worked to provide education for those who had only turned to crime because a lack of education left them no other choice.


    The education division not only worked with the parole division, but a large number of their staff worked in crime prevention by providing affordable, or sometimes free to the recipient, education on less well-to-do worlds. These were often worlds known for being under the influence of many small-time, on the galactic scale, criminal organizations, and so they worked with another division, the security division, who only worked in providing security for their organization.


    The whole organization worked together, with Thraxc as the central figure. They worked with his sense of justice in mind, more-so than the republic''s, or that of the planets that were part of it.


    Of course, they did hold to the laws of the republic for the most part, but there were two exceptions, the smuggling and judgment divisions. The smuggling division mainly was used to smuggle individuals, or their families, who would not get a fair trial on their homeworld due to unfair laws, or who were endangered by the laws that did so to their parents. On the other hand, the judgment division was used to deal with those who would twist the laws of their worlds to cause such situations to occur. These two divisions were the only ones that were counter-republic in a sense.


    Reiya and Meiya''s people were among the few even aware of these two divisions, but they allowed them to be because their royal family had actually been saved by these groups at one point in time.


    "Director Thraxc is ready to see you Reiya, you may enter," The aide informed her, interrupting her thoughts.


    "Hello, Sir," she said as she nervously entered into the director''s office and closed the door behind her.


    "Ah, Reiya, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit my dear niece," Thraxc asked in an ancient sounding voice.


    Reiya was confused, and it showed in her manner as she told him, "You said you wanted to speak to me in person, Sir."


    Thraxc seemed to be thinking for a moment before he replied. "Ah yes, that''s what it was. Computer, activate anti-bug and communications field, Authorization: Red, Alpha, 243678, Tango."


    "Authorization confirmed, anti-communications field activated. Ensuring data wipe of any sensitive information present on any recording devices present and switching to next authorization code in the chain," a sonorous, and slightly metallic, voice responded. This was Thraxc''s assistant A.I., who generally acted as a go-between for him and his agents.


    "Now that we no longer have any snoopers present, contact your sister and have her bring your father. Have her tell him that I need to speak with him, that should get him out of any meeting he happens to be a part of, or stop it long enough we can have our conversation."


    "I. . . don''t understand, Sir," Reiya replied, trying her best to hide her fear of being found out by the director, "With this field in place I couldn''t contact my father or sister if I wanted to."


    "Come now, my dear girl," Thraxc replied in an amused manner as he leaned his gigantic body forward a bit, "do you really think I don''t know what you and your sister are? Your father placed you with me "in order to protect you", but he didn''t send your sister as well. Add to that the fact that your race''s council had been bugging your father for some fifty years to position operatives to watch my movements prior to your arrival, and I can only think of one reason he would do this. You two are linked twins, you father did send you here to protect you, but he also sent you to keep an eye on me to ensure I do not make any sudden movements they can''t account for."


    Reiya was surprised at the revelation that Thraxc knew, and fear flashed across her face. Thraxc signalled to her to calm down, and let him finish saying his peace.


    "I have allowed the current situation to save your father face, and keep my dear nieces away from dangerous assignments," he said, giving her a surprisingly fatherly look for his race. "Still, I have decided to end this charade, and to help my sworn brother and his daughters at the same time."


    "I''ll . . . do what I can, Sir," Reiya replied, and sent the message to her sister.


    "I wish you''d just call me uncle." Thraxc sighed resignedly as he spoke.


    It took Meiya the better part of an hour to locate their father. When she did, their father sounded annoyed.


    "What is it Thraxc," Reiya relayed, trying to sound as much like her father had as she could. Thraxc laughed and applauded the attempt, then replied seriously.


    "Not surprised I noticed what you were doing with Reiya and Meiya?"


    Their father sighed heavily at his question.


    "No, not considering whom I am talking to through my daughters. Do you have a reason you needed to contact me? We''re sort of in the middle a joint council session, and everything''s on hold until we''re done here."


    "Ah, good, good, this will make things much easier. Are you still inside the council chambers, and is everyone present?"


    "Yes, why?"


    "Good! I''m going to have the girls relay what I say as close to what I say as possible, so none of you better get mad at them, understood?"


    "One of the council elders is asking who you think you are."


    "I''m the most powerful being in the known galaxy. I could destroy your planet in a heartbeat if I wanted, even with those 10 redundant planetary shield arrays working at the same time, or have you forgotten, Councillor Melfys. Do I need to remind you of what I did to the Croxhons 450 years ago?"


    "How''d you know? Oh, he just pissed his pants," Reiya gave a disgusted look as she finished speaking.


    Thraxc couldn''t help laughing before saying, "I''ve known that old codger for 500 years, it''s easy to tell. Anyway, back to our conversation. Meiya and Reiya are to be remanded to my legal custody, and Meiya is to be sent to my prison planet to keep her sister company. In exchange, I promise to not meddle in your race''s affairs for 5,000 of your planetary years."


    "Furthermore, I promise to assist your government through my most elite mercenary troops for free during this timespan, so long as the jobs do not go against my organization''s rules. This will allow you to free up your own men and women for the jobs that mine will not be allowed to do under these rules all my mercenary units abide by. I will even give you access to two Draevnel."


    "They''re going nuts," Reiya informed him. "What are these Draevnel?"


    "They''re the elite of the elite among my forces," Thraxc answered her. "The Draevnel specialize in espionage and assassination, and are loosely modelled after the Ninjas of a nation by the name of Japan that once existed on Earth. My Draevnel are capable of destroying a planet if they so wish, but rather than doing that they specialize in stealth operations where no one learns of their presence. Their enemies are left confused, and panicked when their leader, or the person they were tasked to protect, is found dead long after my men are gone. If it''s information they''re after, the enemies won''t even know they''ve been compromised at all."


    "They sound impressive. . . Oh, they''ve recovered now."


    "What is your answer?" Thraxc asked in a serious voice.


    "How can we know you''ll do what you say?"


    "Hmph, have I ever not kept my word?! My promise is my bond! You have tested my patience enough! If you do not agree, I will utterly destroy your people, and only leave those I value alive!"


    Reiya went pale at his response, but she then saw Thraxc wink at her. She was shocked, he was playing the council for fools! On the other end of their shared connection, she could feel Meiya fighting desperately to avoid laughing, or showing her amusement on her face. She could only shake her head as she considered everything that was happening, it was simply too ridiculous. Finally the response came, and she found herself unable to hold back a wry smile as she reluctantly spoke.


    "Fine, we concede. We shall take the aforementioned deal. . . They are now your property, take care of my daughters."


    "Don''t say this to them, but have Meiya pass on a message to your father later, in private. They''re not my property, they''re my nieces, and I have found a man I deem worthy of them."


    After that, everything had worked out until this situation came along, though the twins still didn''t know how they''d address their own issue. That would be a tricky one considering their physiology. . .


    -----


    Andaros stalked his way through the orchard toward his destination. The young man was angry, but more-so at himself than Reiya. He knew he was worrying her and Qora, but he had gotten cold feet after finding that a nights rest had done nothing to truly relieve his anger. In fact, it had made the situation worse, sleeping with a belly full of unresolved anger was never a good idea.


    Yet he was also mad at himself for behaving this way toward Caera. Here he was getting cold feet just because he was angry about not what had happened, but how it happened. While he wasn''t into beastiality, and worried that this might be a case of such, Siri ha managed to convince him that it was not such a case. This gave him some comfort, but what about the other individual involved in this debacle.


    Here Caera was out there crying, and likely scared he hated her, and he had let a little anger cause enough doubt that he couldn''t move forward, he berated himself over this fact. It wasn''t like he believed he would get over his concerns quickly but, like Reiya had said, it was better to tell her he was angry and explain why than hold it in and become bogged down by his worries, turning bitter. He had to set things straight so they could move on with their lives. He couldn''t promise he would instantly be comfortable with the new bond they shared, but he could at least promise to keep her by his side and treat her properly.


    The two would have to discuss proper treatment after they managed to convey their feelings over the incident. He wanted to know what prompted her actions, and also tell her about his people''s beliefs, his own as well. This was important to him, as he really didn''t want to treat her badly, and even wanted to continue to get to know her better. Who knows, maybe some day he would be able to reconcile the situation with his beliefs, and they could be together. That wasn''t something easy though, considering his beliefs. . . and what had happened.


    Andaros had quickly checked on the areas searched, and any information he could get on how they were searched with the search teams, so he had a good idea of where she might be hiding. His gut feeling had already said it would be this place, and after checking the information he had become even more convinced that it was there. So he had headed over immediately. In the end it took over three hours to get there as he was lost in thought the entire time.


    As he came upon the clearing where the four of them had first spent a night together, he couldn''t calm his heart. Would she be here? Would he be able to control his anger? Could they truly reconcile? Doubts popped up one after another, but he managed to push them aside after a bit and called out into the clearing.


    "C-C-C-Caera? A-a-a-are y-y-y-you th-th-th-there? W-w-w-we n-n-n-need t-t-t-to t-t-t-talk, p-p-p-please," He called as best his could in his usual halting voice.


    Just as Andaros was about to give up and leave to look elsewhere, he saw movement on one side of the hill and recognized Caera''s familiar head. She kept guiltily looking down at the ground, only glancing up for brief moments in order to see if he showed any signs of being angry. She couldn''t seem to keep her eyes steadily on him now, so he gave the sign to pay attention while she was looking his way.


    {We need to talk,} He used his sign language to communicate, since his stuttering was really a bother to himself.


    {You, must hate me for what I did to you,} Caera looked sad as she replied.


    {I do not hate you,} he assured her, {but I am angry. Before you do anything hear me out. I am not angry that something like that happened, but how it happened.}


    At this admission, she perked up, but he wasn''t done signing, so she patiently waited. She no longer looked away, but her posture still showed her nervousness.


    {I was not asked what I thought, or if I wanted to be in that situation, and that is why I am angry,} he told her. {Among the people of my planet, it is a taboo to sleep with a beast. This was why I yelled out upon waking to find myself in that situation. Siri told us that your ancestors were once human, so that somewhat helped me calm down about that part but, the anger over it happening without my consent was not dealt with. . . I have my hands full with the situation with Qora, and my beliefs are that a family should consist of one father and one mother, so I was not planning on doing anything like that, with you or anyone else.}


    Caera looked ashamed as she looked downward.


    {Sorry,} she signalled.


    {It is fine, what is done is done,} he answered. {I will not throw you away, or push you out of my life for what happened. Still, we cannot have sex. . . at least until I can come to terms with this situation, but we already share a bond so I will not treat you poorly. I. . . actually took this long to come because I was worried I would hurt you in my anger.}


    After finishing his explanation, he waited for her to respond. It seemed as if she was sad, but she didn''t argue with him.


    {Can I still stay close to you, Master,} she finally asked with a nervous look.


    Andaros sighed heavily, but then answered, {You can stay by my side, but I cannot promise everything will be alright immediately. I might end up hurting you without intending to do so, is that alright?}


    {Yes,} came the answer, but she didn''t look too happy. On the other hand, she also looked relieved.


    {Let us go home.}


    {Yes, Master,} Caera answered, and soon walked over. The saberlioness walked ahead of him, and Andaros shook his head as he noticed her hips swaying in a more sultry manner than usual. He realized it was intentional after she looked back the first couple of times, but stayed quiet and pretended to not notice. Letting her know he had noticed would be letting her win, but he did notice and just kept looking straight ahead as they walked, she did have a cute butt though. . . for a lion.


    When the two returned, they found everyone waiting for them. All the humanoids seemed to be smirking at Andaros and started teasing him about the event, while the saberlions berated their "older sister", but soon started to do the same as the humanoids. Andaros couldn''t help turning red at the comments from the male searchers, but the anger he had felt had finally been released by telling Caera how he felt, all that was left was a bit of embarrassment at their jeers. For her part, Caera was penitent at first, but later on seemed strangely excited. Andaros couldn''t tell what she and the other saberlions were saying in their growling and roaring language, so he really didn''t have much understanding of what was going on with them. He could hazard a guess of course, but he really didn''t want to do so.


    "So, it seems you''ve got another wife now," Qora teased with a smirk, "Just remember, I''m his first wife! Hehehe, I''m gonna milk me a cock tonight!"


    Andaros couldn''t keep a wry look from appearing on his face as the gruff individuals present snickered. She really was too forward about it, yet he didn''t really feel it was proper to retort to it at the time. Everyone present were fairly gruff individuals who had seen a great many things in their lives, none, however, were human. They had a good laugh at the situation, rather than condemning the two for what had happened. Their reactions helped Andaros to further relax, but he couldn''t really be comfortable with the situation.


    Reiya was the only one not laughing and jeering at Andaros, but she had been around these gruff individuals long enough that she couldn''t help smiling slightly at the response. She surprised Andaros when she came up to him and hugged him before giving him a kiss on the cheek, eliciting more whistles and jeers from the onlookers. "Thank you," she whispered, "and I''m sorry."


    Andaros was stunned by her actions, and stood there unmoving for a good, long time. Qora didn''t seem bothered in the least by her actions, and just stood there propping up her bountiful chest with her crossed arms while looking on with a smirk. When he finally recovered, Andaros unconsciously touched his cheek where she had kissed him, eliciting more jeers and laughter.


    An impromptu party was soon started, and continued into the evening before it ended with most of the participants leaving back to the prison proper. Andaros wasn''t too comfortable with it, but he endured the jeering and ruckus as he always did. These prisoners and prison staff were rather different from what he had expected from a prison, but he found himself relaxed by their close manner. It was almost like they were one big, happy, dysfunctional family. A large number of individuals had been involved in the searches due to the fact that Caera and her family had become quite popular among the prisoners and staff during their frequent visits to the main prison.


    -----


    Later that night, Andaros lay in bed with Qora''s arms wrapped around him contemplating what had happened. The anger he felt that day had flown away with his admission, and now he found himself wondering how he was supposed to treat her. Should he treat her like he always had, or should he treat her as his lover, or something else entirely. He wasn''t sure, but as he watched her sleeping curled up on the floor he found himself strangely attached to the big cat. In the end he wasn''t sure what to do, and just set aside the matter while he fell asleep. He completely forgot to ask for her reasons that day.

 Prologue: Chapter Eight - Six Months

    A quick note: { } = Galactic Sign Language communications


    A man ran through the dark alleys and streets of the capitol city of the planet Meracene, making his way toward the spaceport. Gone was his usual arrogance, it had been replaced with paranoia and fear after facing the terrifying individuals chasing him. He continually looked behind him as he ran, clutching at a wound in his side as he tried his best to staunch the bleeding.


    Where are they? Where are they?! Did I finally lose them? No! There''s no way I could lose such monsters!!! He screamed in his head as he continually looking around in paranoia and ran.


    Just as he thought he might have finally lost them, the man stumbled around a corner into an empty square. Normally this would be a good thing, but the man recalled that this particular square was never empty. It was normally brightly lit, and so crowded with people that it was easy to slip into the crowds and disappear. Now, it was completely empty, devoid of life. He turned back in fear, only to find some of those terrifying beings blocking the alley he had come from.


    He turned back once again in fright, only to find the entire square surrounded by these mysterious beings in their black gear. All possible exits were covered, as well as all the building tops. He backed away in horror, it had only been a short moment since he turned away from the square yet they had appeared in that short couple of seconds. As the man drew toward the center of the square, the beings slowly closed in on him, appearing within the square from their rooftop positions as if they were imaginary phantoms.


    The man turned around continuously like a trapped animal, he kept looking for a way out of his predicament, but none appeared. He turned faster and faster, desperate to find a way to keep his life.


    F*** it! If I''m gonna die, I''m gonna take as many of these f***ers with me as I can!


    Just as the man determined to fight to the death, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and looked down to find a strange metal weapon he didn''t recognize sticking out from where his heart was located. Shock filled his eyes as he stared down at that surreal sight, he hadn''t heard a single sound. The weapon was pulled out, and he collapsed to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.


    "Welcome to the jungle," the very same phrase he had spoken earlier that day had come back to haunt him as he faded into oblivion.


    -----


    "Somebody clean up this mess," a melodic voice rang out as Crevna Teraise spoke.


    Despite his androgynous features, and feminine voice, the leader of their task force was 100% male, and none of the 15 person group would dare make fun of him for said features. A number of males had hit on him, but Teraise was not into men, and they were ignored, or told off if they couldn''t take the hint. He had never taken to any women that his group knew of, but it was abundantly clear that he wasn''t into men.


    The body was soon gone, in addition to all evidence of it''s existence. Teraise overlooked the process, and nodded in satisfaction upon it''s completion. "Disperse," he ordered, and his taskforce members disappeared in less than a second.


    "I suppose it''s about time I report to the boss, he''ll want to know what that b**ch had planned." Upon completing his sentence, it was as if he completely ceased to exist.


    Not long after, the black suited individuals disappeared, the square returned to it''s usual busy state. One might find it surprising, considering what had happened, but such events were a common occurrence in the dark side of the capitol. Their outfits might be uncommon, but the event itself was common, so it was soon forgotten and the people went about their business, as usual.


    The next day the capitol was shocked by the complete, and utter disappearance of one of the capitol''s strongest gangs, and every supporter or captive they held. Their erasure was so complete that it was hard to believe that it could be so complete and yet not leave any traces behind.


    -----


    Thraxc sat in his office, looking lazily out the windows of his "Highrise Penthouse." It had been quite some time since he sent out his operatives to check on the Terasien case, but as reports came in, he found himself more and more convinced of the boy''s innocence. He showed himself to be quite kind, even going so far as to forgive a saberlion female who had raped him in his sleep. Unfortunately, a great many cases like the boy''s, where people judged them based on their external appearance, happened throughout the known galaxy. Most cases didn''t involve something like the murder of their own parents, but being charged with crimes they did not commit happened more often than he''d like.


    A slight breeze appeared, but he didn''t even react, he only said, "Computer, activate anti-bug and communications field, Authorization: Red, Alpha, 243678, Tango." He then waited for the confirmation before asking, "What are the results?"


    "He is, indeed, innocent," Crevna Teraise responded from behind him. "The perpetrators were erased, but there were four innocents who were present. We couldn''t leave them there, but they had to disappear, so I had them brought here."


    "Who were they?"


    "The perpetrator was a middle aged human male named Draeven, no last name. As for the innocents, they were 4 young girls who had recently been captured and turned into sex slaves," he answered. "Their minds are pretty disturbed, and they barely responded during our trip here. I''ve been keeping a female member of the taskforce with them at all times as a preventative measure, I don''t want them to kill themselves after I took the risk of keeping them alive. I''d have ordered the men to kill them, to put them out of their misery, but I know you don''t like that sort of thing."


    "How responsive are these girls," Thraxc requested.


    "They''re lucid, but their spirit is pretty much broken. They don''t even remember who they are, and they''re terrified of males."


    "Age range, and race?"


    "Around 8-10 years of age," Teraise replied, his voice making obvious his disgust. "Two Zevrai, one Corthan, and one Trellian. That b*****d deserved to die long before we killed him, he got rid of our innocent man because he protected the girls from being kidnapped."


    "So he protected these girls before?"


    "Yes, Sir," Teraise replied, Thraxc could almost feel him nod. "There is one problem. The man has hired professional hitmen to kill the victim, a guild called "The Sabers." He has also put out a general hit order with the assassins guild."


    "I like this boy more and more," Thraxc said while laughing. "Collect your belongings, I want you to move into the manor inside the orchard and protect him. I''ll also have the girls transferred over there, so choose four women from your team to transfer there as well. The boy has managed to turn a pride of saberlions to his side, and recently also turned a tribe of badgers, and a herd of deerlings into his allies. They''re rapidly warming up to the boy, and I estimate they will be his solid followers within one to three months."


    "We haven''t been able to tame a single one of these animals in four years, and this guy manages to turn three of their races into his friends within six months?"


    "Indeed," Thraxc agreed, "There''s a fourth group of animals that is beginning to take a healthy interest in the boy as well."


    "How lucky can one get?"


    "I suspect luck isn''t the answer to why these animals are taking an interest in Andaros," Thraxc answered while smiling. "He is the only human on the planet, and certainly the only person here with such a unique temperament."


    "Wouldn''t his looks scare them away," Teraise asked doubtfully.


    "Hahaha, that''s the best part," Thraxc replied in amusement, "His looks seem to be gaining their respect more than anything, giving him enough time for his kind personality to bring out their latent humanity. According to that A.I. he scavenged from the robot, they were all once human colonist groups that were changed through genetic manipulation in order to counteract a virus that was killing them off at the time."


    "Seems a bit strange, couldn''t they have just gotten rid of the weakness to the virus?"


    "Their only real expert with enough knowledge to do so didn''t have the proper equipment for doing so without changing their race drastically," Thraxc explained, "and the rest were just piggybacking off his technique using animals they thought would survive better in this environment. Both the saberlions and the velociraptors on planet were actually human-made hybrids that emulated ancient animals from earth''s distant past."


    "Ah, that explains it. Do we have communicators setup between the orchard and here?"


    "Yes, they were set up last month," Thraxc replied. "They''re older units, but they cover a much larger range than the communicator''s we''ve been using. That boy''s a genius, he rigged the ones going between here and there on a different frequency than the one we usually use, and even adjusted our current ones to use a second set frequency outside the normal range for the teams heading over there to use."


    "I''ll grab a set of the adjusted kind for my team, and head over there then."


    "Ah, by the way, how''s your grasp of Galactic Sign Language?"


    "Good, why do you ask?"


    "You''ll know when you get near the orchard. The passcode is my name, we had to keep it a bit more basic than I''d like for our natives."


    "Understood, I''ll be going then," and with that, Teraise''s presence disappeared from the room.


    Thraxc continued to stare out the window at the landscape outside.


    "Keep that brat alive for me. . . His mother would kill me if any harm came to him, were she still alive," he muttered to himself, as he had made sure no one was around to hear it. There was a decidedly mournful tone to his voice as he spoke. He added slaughtering any would-be assassins to his itinerary.


    -----


    A few weeks later, Andaros quietly sat in his workshop thinking about what had happened since he had arrived on the prison planet six months ago. Everything had been strangely better than his life before the prison planet. That is, until the incident involving Caera . . . Well, it still was better, truth be told, but he still found himself bothered by the event. True, her race were once human, but a part of him still worried that it was bestiality no matter what logic said, and there was still the fact that she had basically raped him, even if it was in a hormone induced, mind-altered state. He did like Caera, but the event still left him uncomfortable even now, and it bothered him that it influenced their interactions so much.


    Caera suffered silently, and did her best to be helpful despite his reaction, but he could tell it hurt her. For a time he had been able to calm himself by stroking Caera''s fur, but Qora had to ruin that by joking that he was "petting his pussy."


    He sighed as he thought of that one, the giantess was quite beautiful, but she had a serious lack of tact sometimes. This was especially true around Andaros, as she found it much easier to be herself around him, but she also let Reiya see that side of her quite a lot. Reiya told him this was a side she only showed to her, her twin, and a few other female friends. In fact, she was pretty certain Qora was only so forward around him because of their bond, as she had never once heard her make such jokes around any males before her virginity was lost. Now, she only made the jokes around males when Andaros was present, but she had left a number of people stunned by those jokes since then.


    The matter concerning Caera truly bothered Andaros. He had forgiven the saberlion female, but he still worried about the matter from then. Facing Caera was difficult for him as he really did not know how he was supposed to treat her now. He couldn''t treat her as a lover, her beast form still bothered him, plus his sensibilities wouldn''t allow it. Still, in his beliefs they were now connected, so the whole matter was very troubling for the young man. It was hypocritical, but he couldn''t help feeling the way he did, torn between one way of thinking and another.


    Andaros sat there, still muddling through the problem. It wasn''t until later in his experiences that the boy would fully come to terms with what had happened, but at that time the situation would have decidedly changed.


    -----


    While Andaros was worrying over his own issues, a shuttle slowly floated down toward the planet. Using its anti-gravity devices, it made a slow approach toward the prison facility landing pad. Upon landing, a single person departed with their luggage before the shuttle began to quickly ascend toward the heavens once more. The strange shuttle soon disappeared from view, never to return to this particular planet. It docked with its mother-ship, and the ship turned toward its next destination before accelerating to near light-speed long enough to leave the planet''s gravitational field. Once out of the field, the ship folded space, and disappeared from the star system.


    "Sister!"


    As the young woman who had departed from the ship walked down the ramp, she was bowled over by a green girl, this girl was precisely her twin sister, Reiya. "Sister, why are you so emotional," she asked, "we are always connected."


    "I, I know that," Reiya replied in an embarrassed manner, "but this is different. It''s nice to see you again."


    "I''m glad to see you too," she replied gently.


    "Lady Meiya?"


    Meiya turned to see a strangely dressed individual wearing black, rather baggy looking clothes that covered the individual''s body completely, all that was left uncovered was the eyes. "Yes?"


    "I''ve been tasked by the Master to bring you up to speed on the matters surrounding your sister and the young human named Andaros," the individual said in their androgynous voice, making it hard to tell if they were male or female. "We have received reports from our operatives that. . . ."


    The individual''s explanation went on for quite a while, and by the end both Reiya and Meiya were thoroughly shocked.


    -----


    Andaros entered the offices of the prison. While he had been agonizing over his troubles he had been approached by one of the prison staff, and was shortly brought to this place. Upon entering, Andros looked around while trying to figure out where the right office was.


    "Mr. Terasien," a voice called from his right, and he turned to see a woman standing in a doorway, waving him over, "Right this way. The Director has been expecting you." He followed the woman into a large secretary''s office. "Please go through those doors, he''s waiting for you."


    "Thank you," he stuttered out. In response to his words, he received a gentle smile before opening the door and entering.


    "Ah, Mr. Terasien, good to see you."


    "Doctor Gliediv," Andros was surprised to find the portly man sitting behind a desk, and stuttered more than normal as he questioned.


    "I''m a bit surprised you still remember me after six months," the Devonian responded, "but, in  truth, my name is not Skaelvaer Gliediv. My name is Thraxc, and this is not my true form. My true form is rather terrifying for your species, so I chose to present myself in the form of our prison''s head doctor when I greeted you upon your arrival. No one is aware of this fact besides the good doctor and myself, so I would appreciate if you do not speak of it to them."


    "O-o-o-okay."


    Andaros wasn''t aware of the reasons the director would make such a request, but chose to accept without considering it too deeply. His earnest response pleased Thraxc, and the being grinned happily.


    "You must be wondering what I have called you here to discuss," Thraxc stated. When he received a nod in response, he continued speaking. "To be truthful, Reiya''s sister, Meiya, is due to arrive on-planet at this time, and should be touching down at this moment. The twins'' father is an old friend of mine, and I have taken the two into my protection. The reason I called you to my office is related to this."


    "The twins face a dilemma when it comes to love, and this issue is related to their race. You see, their race has a rather annoying quirk, every once in a while there is a born a pair of twins that share a very special connection. Reiya and Meiya are one such pair of twins. This connection allows them to experience the other twin''s senses, as well as emotions. One twin can even help the other in a time of need, by taking control of the other twin''s body for a short period of time, but this is very taxing on the second twin."


    "As you may imagine, their people tend to use these twins for military purposes. The one twin stays in a safe location and supports the other when they are in danger. These twins are very rare, so their existence is not well known outside of their own race."


    "You might wonder where I am getting with all of this information, so I''ll get to the point. These joined, or connected twins have a rather troublesome quirk related to their physiology. These twins are connected on more than just a mental and emotional level, and it even goes so far as to implicate their bodies themselves. This is not troublesome in itself, but the quirk goes beyond this fact. These twins are unable to mate unless they can either find another pair of such twins, or unless they can somehow find a mate that can mate with both of them at the same time. If they mate separately, their physiology is such that the act will kill both twins. As such, I have taken it upon myself to find them a mate."


    "This is where you come in," Thraxc stated seriously, "You will be undergoing a genetic procedure to make yourself compatible to the twins."


    "Eh? I couldn''t possibly. . ." Andaros was rather lost for words, and his stuttering was rather more pronounced than usual.


    "Who said you had a choice."


    As the coldly spoken words echoed in the room, Andaros was overcome by a sudden, overwhelming fear. Before his eyes, the visage of the doctor began to distort, and grow in size until what stood there was a towering behemoth that looked like the dragons of Old Earth mythology. Ruby red scales that glittered in the light, four legs with razor sharp claws extending from the fingers and toes, razor sharp teeth set in the jaws of the angular head set on top of the long neck, two large wings, and a long, prehensile tail. Thraxc''s true form was easily the size of a diplodocus, although the actual size and shape was different, he was just that huge. A draconian, Thraxc was one of a race long since scattered to the solar winds, and almost extinguished. It was no wonder the director''s office was so spacious yet had a human sized desk.


    "Hmph, you disappoint me boy. I would prefer to do this in a more genial fashion," Thraxc stated unhappily, "so I''ll give you some time to reconsider your decision. Let''s see, those girls are fifteen this year. It is tradition for their race that the father, or parental guardian, provide a husband for them when they turn 20 years old. As I am their parental guardian now, I have decided on you. You have 5 years to get to know the girls and decide whether or not you will change your mind. Should you do so, I will happily release you from this prison, exonerate you, and provide a generous stipend after the 20 year minimum prison term stipulated by galactic regulations. Should you disappoint me however, you will spend the remainder of your life on this planet regardless of your innocence. Now leave, go greet my nieces."


    Andaros quickly left the room, straining himself to maintain his composure. As he closed the door behind him, Thraxc sighed gently, the hard look completely gone from his face. He gazed out the window in melancholy as he remembered the past.


    "I shouldn''t have responded so harshly," he berated his own stupidity, "but I owe both of their parents so very much, especially that boy''s mother. . . Marie. . . Terasien. . . I''ll do what I can for your son, but I also have to look out for those girls, please forgive me."


    Thraxc quietly gazed out his office window at the large orchard where her son now lived, his eyes betraying a deep sadness. He had lost many friends over the long millennia, but the loss of these two friends left him more heartbroken than any before. For a long time he gazed out the window, not speaking as he stared into an eternity of solitude. It wasn''t often Thraxc found he could love people the way he had loved Andaros''s parents.


    ------


    Andaros worried as he walked home from the prison, accompanied by his three guardians. Caera had been joined by two other female beasts in her guard duties toward the boy, which was quite calming for his nerves. Over the two months, he had befriended their races, and a couple weeks back the two had pledged themselves to protect him. He was worried how their races would see it at first, but the two races had pledged to become his allies shortly thereafter, so those worries had proved unfounded.


    Unfortunately, this new circumstance was just piling upon the other issues he had. This was not a fun time in his life. These were heavy matters that kept being thrust upon him one after the other.


    {What do I do, Caera,} He asked the Saber Lioness as he was on the log he normally sat on to think. {First, there is the matter with Qora. Then, there is the matter involving you. Now, the Director is practically forcing me to undergo a procedure and become the mate to both Reiya and Meiya. I have no idea what to do.}


    {Master should just do what you want. I will honor your decision.}


    As she signed to him, Caera looked very sad. Andaros, noticing her sadness, became even more conflicted. It was childish, but a part of him was still angry at her despite his forgiving her. Still, he was also quite attached to the she-cat, and wouldn''t hesitate to sacrifice himself for her. This overall state, along with everything else, led to his being extremely agitated when compared to his normal self.


    Andaros was certainly not used to being popular with females, he was used to being treated like a monster by them instead, so the current situation was not something he could normally handle. Not to mention the fact that everything was happening so fast that he had no chance to come to terms with it before more was piled on, that was certainly making things harder on him. This lead to him constantly second guessing everything, and only becoming more and more confused. He simply did not know how to handle the current situation that was far outside of his expectations.


    The young man had no clue that these current situations and worries were tempering him in ways he could never imagine, it was a tempering that would help him throughout the rest of his life. He heaved a big sigh and indicated that he wished someone could just appear and give him all the answers.


    "That''s not possible, unfortunately," an unknown voice stated, and Andaros looked up to see a strange man dressed up like the ninjas he had learned about from the few remaining working storage devices he had found that were from the colonial expansion period.


    He had found those storage devices within the warehouses of one of the junk dealers back on his old world. Andaros had been pleasantly surprised when he found that these devices still had surviving data files that were not degraded in the least, this was especially true once he managed to decode those files and play the videos. For a time, Andaros had even dressed up, and played ninja with the few friends he had at the time. Unfortunately, that had not lasted long, as the three siblings had moved from the planet when their parents'' company had "gone galactic," he hadn''t seen Magnus and his sisters since.


    "None among the sentient races can give another all the answers," the man continued. "It''s just not possible for them to do so."


    {You are?}


    "Ah, please forgive me," the man said, "my name is Teraise. I''ve been monitoring your situation from the shadows, as per Director Thraxc''s orders, while my team-mates have been preparing to bring our new charges to the manor."


    {New charges?}


    "Yes, we recently saved four young girls from a despicable individual while out on a mission for the director, and have brought them here," Teraise explained. "They had been treated rather terribly, and have experienced physical and emotional traumas, so we brought them here to the planet when we finished our mission. Director Thraxc seems to think you might be able to help them to open back up, but they''re very afraid of males as of this time. They also tend to be unresponsive to females as well."


    {I do not believe I could help,} Andaros replied petulantly, {I scare most people with my looks.}


    "I suppose you would doubt your own ability to help considering how you have been treated throughout your life," Teraise replied while giving a wry smile, "but I, personally, sense a calming atmosphere from you. I know you''re in turmoil after what has happened in the time since your mother was murdered, but that calming atmosphere is still there."


    {I do not understand.}


    "If you mean knowing about your mother''s murder, Director Thraxc had me investigate the case," Teraise responded, "If you mean the calming atmosphere, only a truly inexperienced individual would have no way of seeing past your physically angry looks, if it''s someone in my line of work. The ones who can''t learn to read people properly don''t last long."


    {I see. . .}


    "The reason I appeared before you at this time is that the rest of my team will soon arrive at the manor with the young girls, and I wanted to introduce you to all of them," Teraise explained. "Due to circumstances, we will be dwelling within the manor and acting as additional security. We''ve also been instructed to assist in preparing you and the individuals the director has chosen for the prisoner reform program he has in mind. I''ll be introducing the method tommorrow, after we have gathered in the manor''s main hall, which means you will have to be in attendance. The other prisoners participating in the reform program group should settle in the manor within a couple weeks, and my team members should also be ready soon. Shall we proceed back to the manor, or would you want to express your troubles and seek advice first?"


    Andaros hesitated for a bit before he responded.


    {. . . We should head back.}


    "As you wish," Teraise responded. "If you ever desire to speak to someone of your worries, do not hesitate to do so, I will most certainly regard your worries carefully, and impart what wisdom I may."


    {Thank you.}


    "You are very welcome, let''s be going now."


    So it was that Andaros finally met the ninja known as Teraise, a man he would come to regard as a friend closer than a brother in due time, although the circumstances for that would be quite surprising.


    -----


    "Hey Andaros, you''re just in time," "Reiya" said as he approached. He and Teraise actually met the girls and the new residents a bit outside the manor, and were greeted there. Andaros, strangely enough, noticed that this was indeed not actually Reiya speaking, "Come meet my sister, Meiya."


    {You should not lie,} Andaros answered immediately, {That is Reiya, and that means you must but her twin, Meiya. It is a pleasure to meet you.}


    Meiya looked completely shocked for a moment before finally stuttering out, "H-h-how did you kn-know?"


    {For one thing, your hairstyle is a bit different} he answered, {and for another, your eyes are slightly different in color than Reiya''s eyes. Other than that, you girls are complete clones of each other, physically speaking.}


    Meiya and Reiya were both a bit stunned, but Meiya could feel her sister''s inevitable delight at the fact that he could tell the two apart. At first she wasn''t so happy because their trick had failed, but Meiya soon came to realize a delight in the fact that he could tell them apart as well. Meiya was the trickster of the two, but she wasn''t so stuck on this that she couldn''t find delight in being recognized as herself. She and her sister might be linked, but both Meiya and Reiya had always desired to be known for themselves, without having to tell everyone around them who they were. Playing tricks was just how Meiya dealt with the stress of not having anyone who would recognize her for herself, even their father was terrible in this regard.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    One thing that is often taken for granted by most people is a sense of self, and indeed some twins do not mind being confused for their "other half", but Meiya and Reiya were not like this. While the two were inextricably linked, the twins had a strong sense of self. Outwardly, the two shared "the same" appearance and manners, but inwardly they were very different from each other. Meiya was strong-willed and fiery, while Reiya was gentle and forgiving, but had a strong sense of filial piety. Meiya would often get the two into trouble, while Reiya often got them out, and cleaned up the mess afterward. There were times when the two''s roles were reversed, and Meiya was the one getting them out of trouble, but this was actually not that common due to Reiya''s personality. The two were like counter-balances to each other, but for the most part Meiya was the one who started the problems.


    "You knew from so little clues," Meiya asked in surprise, this situation was just too surreal, she couldn''t get her mind fully around it. Two features had told the boy all he needed to know, and one of them was a feature that was quite difficult to see from the distance Andaros had been away from them when he spoke.


    {My mother always said I have sharp eyes,} Andaros explained with a shrug.


    Meiya heaved out a sigh. "You know, that''s not much of an excuse. . . and here I thought I could have some fun with you," she said while sighing once again.


    This action caused the green girl''s four ripe melons to jiggle seductively, which in turn caused Andaros''s eyes to be drawn toward them for a slight moment. The young man quickly averted his eyes, but not quickly enough for her to miss. His eyes were inadvertently drawn to Reiya''s chest, and he once more turned his vision away while the blush grew. A grin appeared on Meiya''s face, but she didn''t say anything as she and Reiya both noticed the blush on Andaros''s face. In truth, all of the females noticed this, but only Qora chose to say something at the time.


    "Hehehe, can''t keep your eyes off their boobs, huh," she teased. "Here, you can have mine all you want, hubby," and with that she buried his face in her cleavage.


    "Qora, have you no shame?! Don''t do something like that in front of others," Reiya reprimanded her angrily. Qora ignored her, and a moment later she yelled,  "He''s even starting to turn blue! Let go of him before he suffocates!"


    "He''s not going to suffocate, I''m not squeezing them together, so he''s got plenty of room to breath," Qora replied. "If anything, he''s turning red from embarrassment."


    "No, he really is turning blue Qora," Teraise responded calmly even in this ridiculous situation. "I think it would be best if you release him now, before any serious repercussions occur."


    "Eh, really," Qora''s surprised voice rang out like a bell. "Oh no, sorry Andaros, I didn''t mean to," she cried out as she quickly brought him out from between her breasts.


    Andaros couldn''t reply for a moment as his lungs were heaving greatly in an attempt to restore the necessary amount of oxygen and nitrogen in his bloodstream, it took him a few moments before he could even think to reply to the giantess.


    {Thank you,} he indicated to Reiya and Teraise, {Please don''t suffocate me like that again,} he told Qora, {I do not know if it was heaven or hell, but I think I would rather not experience it again.}


    "Sorry," Qora answered sheepishly once again.


    {It is fine,} Andaros told her, {Just . . . be careful next time.}


    "I, I will," Qora said, blushing profusely.


    "Heh, aren''t you lucky, having such a beauty bury you in her chest in front of others," Meiya said while grinning.


    {Not funny,} Andaros responded to her teasing. {We should go inside the manor, it has been getting cold recently, and the little girls appear to be a bit cold.}


    "They are shivering, but I don''t think that is the reason," one of Teraise''s team members said in response to Andaros''s statement. "I didn''t think his looks would have such a large impact," she told Teraise, "It''s quite terrifying."


    "Looks don''t make the man," Qora replied laughingly, "Don''t worry girls, Andaros is a very kind man. There is no way he would harm any of you, besides . . . he''s got me here if he even wanted to attack someone."


    {I would not do that,} Andaros replied while sighing. {I certainly don''t have a little girl complex.}


    "Lolita complex huh," the woman from before replied with an unhappy tone.


    Andaros hadn''t noticed before, but the woman was quite petite, in more ways than one. It didn''t matter much to him, as he wasn''t really interested in anymore confusing relationships. Still, she was quite beautiful, and he thought she should be well received by the opposite sex despite her small size.


    {I have nothing against petite women,} Andaros told her, {but these four are little girls. What happened to them that they are so afraid of men? They weren''t this way the last time I saw them. I noticed they will not even look at him, and he seems like a pretty nice guy,} he continued, indicating Teraise.


    "Before? Nevermind, they are pretty much afraid of all men," one of the other women said, "These girls were captured by the target of our last mission, and were raped by that scum and his men."


    {Ah, so that is why,} Andaros replied understandingly, {For such a thing to happen to them at such an age. I would love to give such scum a piece of my mind.}


    "That''s not possible anymore," the woman replied, "That scum will never harm another living being again." The woman''s voice was like ice as she spoke, causing everyone to feel a shiver go down their spine.


    "Calm down Iliase," Teraise anxiously told the beauty. "He''s already been dealt with, dwelling on this anymore will only dredge up painful memories."


    "...Sorry, Captain," she said after a moment, seemingly having calmed herself.


    {Is there a problem?}


    "Not a problem per se, but. . ."


    "It''s okay captain, I''ll tell him," the woman name Iliase interrupted Teraise''s words. "I . . . was kidnapped when I was 6 years old, and sold as a sex slave. I was brutally raped every day for 7 years before I was rescued by master Thraxc, they were the most horrific days of my life. After I was rescued, all I wanted was to end my life, but Master wouldn''t allow it, he told me I had to use my life to protect, and save other girls who were put into the same situation as me. Still, I was more like a zombie at that time, yet Master Thraxc would not allow me to kill myself, or let anyone else kill me. Eventually, I met Captain Teraise, and I finally began to recover, but that past still haunts me even now."


    {I don''t know what to say.}


    "You don''t need to say anything."


    {No, this is all the more reason to say something. I, know you have a heavy heart from what happened, and I would just like to say something. Even if it does not help, I want to say it,} Andaros told her in his clumsy sign language. {On behalf of all good men, I would like to tell you, I am sorry for what you had to endure.} Upon finishing his sign language, Andaros bowed at an almost 90 degree angle.


    Iliase was rather surprised by this action that reminded her of someone else. After a moment, she began to giggle incessantly, it took her a moment before she could calm down.


    "I''m sorry," she replied to him, "It''s just that you reminded me of a certain clumsy someone.


    "See, I told you he was a good kid," Teraise told her as she broke out into a second giggling fit.


    "Tehehe, you certainly did," she replied, smiling brightly, "He''s just like your brother Teraise."


    Teraise let out a huge sigh at that remark. "I have big shoes to fill, don''t I," he asked her. "Wish he were still here. . ."


    Iliase became quiet upon his last words.


    "We can''t change the past," another of Teraise''s team members told them, "all we can do is look foward, to the future."


    "You''re right," Teraise answered while sighing, "There''s no way to bring him back. All we can do is move onward."


    {I am sorry,} Andaros told them while straightening up, {It seems a difficult topic has come up because of me.}


    "Don''t worry about it, dear boy," the fourth member of their group told him calmly. She had a kind of motherly, relaxed atmosphere that could make one calm down.


    The woman named Verdne''s intervention helped calm Iliase and Teraise almost immediately, and the two returned to their earlier appearance, but for some reason Iliase opened up toward Andaros quite quickly after that. The group moved to the manor a short distance away, and situated the mainly unresponsive girls and the female members of Teraise''s team that would act as their caretakers into their new rooms. There were quite a few more rooms in the new manor, and each of the little girls was able to bunk with a female team member in a paired room, but that was not to be.


    One of the women suggested putting two girls and two of the women team members into a single larger room in order to avoid any unpleasantness due to false accusations, so the women of Teraise''s team and Andaros''s group began debating whether that would be best or not. In the end, they adopted this approach, and bunks were quickly allocated for the girls and their guardians. They chose simple utility bunks that were easy to transport and assemble for the time being, and contacted the proper personnel about manufacturing more elegant looking, and luxurious wooden bunks to be installed later on. After this, they settled in and scheduled a meeting for the next day in order to set down guidelines for the manor, and any future additions to those living there. Then they all got situated, and settled down for the night.


    -----


    Andaros awoke fairly early the next day and snuck out of bed in order to begin preparing a breakfast for everyone in the manor. The cook had to head back to the main prison the day before and get back to his duties, so meals had been decided to be prepared on a rotation until a permanent cook could be arranged.


    Today had been decided for him to cook, so he began preparations for a simple breakfast that was as simple as bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, but made with ingredients of another name. The eggs were still eggs, but were Quoren eggs, a type of bird that was a mix of goose and chicken. The bacon was made from Denvels, an animal that was a mix of pig, sheep, and cow genetics. Last, but not least, were the cheese and bread, which turned out to be pretty standard, since grains and molds were pretty standard the galaxy round.


    Andaros first cooked the bacon, then the eggs, and finally grilled the bread on both sides using the remainder of the fat before putting the eggs, bacon, and cheese on the bottom piece of bread. He assembled it, with the top piece of bread separate, so he could prepare the sauce, and finished by letting the cheese melt a bit after moving the entire sandwich to a plate. Andaros repeated the process a number of times, until he had just short of assembled enough sandwiches for everyone to have seconds if they wished. The sandwiches for Qora were unusually large, and his own were surprisingly small for his large frame.


    Andaros tended to have smaller meals with small snacks as he needed them throughout the day, rather than large meals. This course of action was something he adopted in order to provide enough energy without overdoing things. He didn''t actually snack all that often, but he did so when he felt he was running low on energy. This practice actually helped, as most of his work was not all that labor intensive, and he could eat more if he was intending to do something that would be. He kept from over-eating, and only ate what he needed in order to get the job done.


    "Mmnnnnnnn, That smells reeeeally guud."


    Andaros turned to see Teraise stretching as he came into the room. His speech was slurred due to his sleepiness, and he looked a bit dishevelled. He had a few twigs caught in his previously tidy hair, and was visibly tired.


    {Morning,} Andaros greeted him, splendidly ignoring the situation.


    "Ah, G''morn'' And''rus," the man answered sleepily.


    {Still tired?}


    "Ah, Yeh, we hod a ruud guust dis morn''n," Teraise replied sleepily. "T''ird dis wiik."


    "Rude guest?"


    "Ah, sourry," Teraise replied in a wry manner, "Da bouss sent meh ta prutact yuuu, so Au''m dealin'' wit'' dah bugs dat come afta yeh."


    {Bugs?}


    "Yeah, sorry," Teraise replied, finally straightening out his speech. "Oi, get in here!"


    Soon after Teraise yelled to the door, a young girl came in through the doorway, she looked pretty battered. Andaros looked toward Teraise with an uplifted eyebrow, but said nothing.


    "Sorry, but you''ve got another mouth to feed," the man told him. "I''d dispose of her if she wasn''t the daughter of a troublesome individual, but there''s no need to fear her. I''ve already explained the situation to the director and her father, and he''s cancelled the kill order after speaking with the director. Still, that man''s stubborn as always. She''s been basically thrown away because she couldn''t accomplish her job, but she won''t attack you. His exact words were, "If she can''t eliminate the target she''ll just have to become his slave. I don''t mind if he knocks her up, since he can manage to get your approval," after we explained the situation to him. So basically, that''s it, the boss came to an agreement for her to be your sex slave, and is entrusting her to you. He already sent the paperwork off for processing with the legal division."


    Andaros couldn''t believe it, a sex slave? This was yet another situation where he had no choice or input in the matter at all. He looked toward the young woman for a moment before turning back to his cooking. Slavery was unfortunately far from uncommon in the greater galaxy, but there were pretty strict laws overseeing the making of people into slaves. It was actually fairly difficult for someone to become a slave through things like debt, unless it was an astronomical figure, and the ones taking the slave by such means were carefully monitored. Sex slaves were on another level of difficulty, but Andaros himself thoroughly despised slavery. The only reason he said nothing was because it would do no good to rile a draconian, and it was doubtful Thraxc would listen to him regardless of how he felt.


    Teraise noticed his unease in a heartbeat. "I know this isn''t something you''re happy with, but our hands are tied considering who the boss and that guy are. She''s being registered as a sex slave, but you don''t have to use her for that. If nothing else you can have her do simple things to help you with your chores and the various projects you''re working on around here. It''s not like you have to force her to do all the work herself either, or do chores that are disturbing or disgusting."


    At Teraise''s words, Andaros couldn''t help but let out an exasperated sigh. Thinking about it, that was the case, and he didn''t have to be one of those stereotypical J***-a**es who treat their slaves like something less than trash. He looked toward the young woman once again.


    The woman appeared to be six or seven years older than himself, and was quite attractive. She had beautiful cherry blossom colored tsurime eyes with slit pupils, flowing blue-green hair that looked like a waterfall spilling down from her head, and long, pointed ears with dual ear canals. She was short when compared to Andaros, with wide, flaring hips, and a rather large version of the Triple-breasted bust common to her race. Her dark brown skin and hair color made her look like some kind of dryad or tree sprite out of a fantasy novel. This beautiful girl was now his sex slave, but Andaros didn''t rejoice over that. For him, this only made his burdens heavier than ever.


    {Fine,} he relented, {she can be my assistant, but I absolutely refuse to treat her as if she is a sex slave.}


    "Oi, she came here to kill you, you know?"


    {I do not care,} Andaros replied. {This is not about what her goal was when she was sent, but about whether I can look at myself in the mirror and not be disgusted with myself.}


    "That''s fine, but you should know that galactic rules state that she''ll have to sleep in your room, in your bed, and cannot hide her body from you in any way during the night, she even has to be under the same bedsheets," Teraise told him. "I told the boss you wouldn''t be happy with that, but those two decided on their own again."


    Teraise just shook his head, but didn''t continue to say anymore. Andaros growled, but didn''t reply, he knew Teraise couldn''t argue with Thraxc anymore than he, himself, could. This other existence sounded just as bad as Thraxc based on the tone Teraise used when speaking of him, so there was no point in complaining to the man.


    "Seems hubby''s troubles have multiplied," Qora''s voice came from the single entrance to the dining room that she could use.


    {Morning Qora,} Andaros told her, continuing to prepare food.


    "You heard," Teraise asked the giantess.


    "Yep, I heard! Don''t worry hubby, I''ll train her properly," Qora replied in an excited tone.


    {Please don''t,} Andaros signed. He turned toward the woman. {How good are you with a knife in the kitchen?}


    "I''m sorry, I don''t understand," the woman replied.


    "He asked how good you are with a knife in the kitchen," Teraise explained, "You''ll have to learn Galactic Sign Language to get by with your new master. He has a serious stuttering issue, so he''s been learning to use it so that simple conversations don''t take hours to finish."


    "Plus he''s a bit embarrassed about his stuttering," Qora added needlessly while grinning broadly. "Personally, I think his stuttering is cute, but it''s my hubby''s choice. If he wants to use sign language, I''ll support him."


    "I''m sorry that I do not understand sign language, Master," the woman told him in a regretful tone, "I will take any punishment you deem necessary. I do have some knife skills, but my cooking leaves something to be desired."


    {It''s fine,} Andaros signed, {I do not expect you to take any punishment for not knowing sign language. I did not know any until recently, so it is not like I can judge. Can you help me with cutting the bacon to proper thickness?}


    "He wants you to cut the bacon down to manageable slices," Qora translated, conveniently leaving out the rest of what he said. "Cut them to about 1/8 inch thickness for the others and about 1/4 inch for me and hubby. As for your punishment, he''s too kind to do something like that, so I''ll be training you extra as the punishment."


    {Do not,} Andaros frantically signed, but Qora ignored him as she grinned broadly. While the new woman was ignorant of the meaning of his signs, Teraise was watching on with an amused smile plastered on his face.


    Andaros realized he hadn''t asked something important, and told Qora, {Ask her what her name is, please.}


    "Hubby wants to know what your name is," Qora told her while giggling.


    "I have no name," she replied, "We were only known by a serial number despite Lord Quormn treating us as adopted daughters. Master may change my name as he pleases, I have no choice in the matter. The slavery implant does not allow such a choice."


    {Slavery implant,} Andaros was startled and directed his signs at Teraise along with a questioning gaze.


    "She was subjected to the implant under Master Thraxc''s orders," Teraise said with an apologetic tone and a glance toward the woman. "He worried she would try something under that man''s orders, so he had it implanted. He had some rather . . . interesting . . . options activated by the doctor, but I''m not allowed to tell you what those functions are. You''ll find out soon enough anyway."


    "I wouldn''t have done anything even without the implant," the woman replied, pouting a bit. Andaros found this action of hers to be quite cute, but kept it to himself.


    The young man had some worries about the additional woman, what the additional settings on the implant were, and what Qora would do to "train" her. He never seemed to be able to stop the giantess from doing anything, so there wasn''t much point in objecting to her statement before, it was just a reflex. Stopping Thraxc was like trying to stop a train with a grain of boiled rice, not an easy task at all, so doing anything about those settings was even more impossible.


    {Ask her if Yleiha would be acceptable,} Andaros signed.


    "Andaros is asking if Yleiha would be an acceptable name," Qora relayed the question.


    The girl looked at him rather startled for a split second before her facial expression returned to normal. "Yleiha, huh? Where''d you get the name from," she responded inquisitively.


    {It was the name of a friend,} he signed, and Qora faithfully relayed the message.


    The girl shook at his statement, "It, it was," she asked in an surprised manner after a moment.


    Andaros nodded, and told her, {Yes, I was told she and her entire family had died while on a vacation, it was a hard loss to take.} Teraise relayed the message this time, and the girl shook once again before tears began to fall. {What''s wrong?}


    "N-nothing," the girl replied, not even needing an interpretation this time. "Then, then I''ll be called Yleiha from now on." Under her breath, she added, "He couldn''t be," in a low enough voice that no one heard. "Could he? ... Does, does he remember me?"


    {Then, please ask Yleiha to finely dice these vegetables, and continue to slice the bacon like she had been doing,} Andaros asked while she was quietly talking to herself. {We shouldn''t need too much more bacon, but I may as well make more sandwiches, just in case.}


    Andaros used the vegetables for a sauce to be used on the sandwiches and put the top piece of bread on, then proceeded to make a variety of dish that was similar to coleslaw, which was traditional on the planet Elix. Everyone gathered in the dining area while he was working, and once it was done, the meal was served using a large hot-plate made from ceramic with a steel core to keep the sandwiches warm. Everyone was warned that the platter-like dish was hot before they began to take the sandwiches off and put them on their plates alongside the side-dishes which were already placed there. Like so, everyone began to enjoy their meal, including the slave Yleiha who had given minor assistance in making it.


    ------


    After the meal had finished, everyone gathered in the large room designed for entertaining guests. Those responsible for them had completed any miscellaneous chores beforehand, so they were free to discuss what Teraise had to discuss in a leisurely manner.


    "I''ve gathered you all here to inform you of some things, and discuss how chores will be divided up from now on," Teraise informed them. "My team members and I have been placed here for several reasons. First, there is the fact that a certain man has put out an assassination order on Andaros."


    "The individual responsible for this hit order has already been killed and all his assets seized, but the galaxy is a big place, and interested individuals may not learn of this in time to stop them from acting in order for them to earn the reward. One such example is this young lady here, Yleiha was apprehended late last night as she tried to sneak into the manor. Master Thraxc has already spoken with her original master, and she has been turned over to Andaros and registered as a slave with the galactic union."


    Thankfully, Teraise was tactful in the way she was presented to the rest of the people present, but unfortunately someone else was not.


    "You mean sex slave," Qora stated, grinning evilly. "You already have me and Caera, how many other women do you need," she added, changing her look to a saddened, betrayed woman. Her acting itself wasn''t bad, but everyone just rolled their eyes at this, it made the tension in the room relax once again.


    "If she tried to assassinate him, why is she being registered as his slave," Reiya asked, sounding a bit angry, "shouldn''t she be taken away and not staying right beside him, where she''s a danger to him?!"


    "Calm down Reiya," Teraise told her, "She is no longer any threat to him. First, her former master is quite honorable. He only took the job and sent her because he believed Andaros had killed his own mother. Second, she has been subjected to a slavery implant that will prevent her from harming him should she think to do so, but it is doubtful she would even try. She was turned over as a slave because her adoptive father felt responsible for taking a job that he hadn''t previously verified the details of. Furthermore, her last order from her father was to faithfully serve and protect her new master, and gratefully bear his children should he wish to procreate with her. The guy has a bit of a strange sense of honor, but he would never dare try to deceive Master Thraxc, he knows the consequences of that. I was there when he gave his orders, so I can verify the words he said."


    "Ugh, more competition," Meiya could be heard stating under her breath. It was faint, but everyone could hear her statement, a statement which made Andaros quite nervous.


    "*cough* Anyway, moving on," Teraise tried to gloss it over and get things back on track, "The second thing I have to inform you of is that the master has decided on using Andaros and those inside this manor as either a control group, or supervisors, depending on the individual, for his new prisoner reform program. This program entails using the galaxy''s largest VRMORPG and it''s virtual worlds as a way to safely work towards reintegrating prisoners who have had exemplary behavior for at least six months back into society."


    "In reality, this program is mainly a test to see how the prisoners act within that world and judge if they are ready to go back into a regular society," Teraise explained. "The group here will be acting as a control  as they have either never been convicted of a felony, or have been proven innocent in the case of Andaros here. Unfortunately the galactic laws do not allow us to release him for a long time, but we can give him a chance to live a free life in Trinity Online. Master Thraxc ordered us to procure a very special pod for Andaros, as he hates injustices and thought to make up for it in some small way. After some coaxing, we managed to procure a platinum pod that has never been activated directly from Supercal, the company that controls Trinity."


    "During the next few weeks, we will be teaching all of you about Trinity, and giving you a small head start on actual play inside the game. Master Thraxc has chosen to use the planet Farside as the starting point for your adventures as it is the only starter planet in which the special tutorial has not been cleared in the past 3,000 years. We''ll explain more about it in our classes."


    "So, we''re just expected to do this," Reiya asked unhappily.


    "Unfortunately, these are the orders of Master Thraxc," one of the women, whom Andaros had not yet learned the name of, said. "This is not something we can do anything about. Master Thraxc is someone who is so far above us, we wouldn''t dare argue with his decision."


    With this, an ominous light was cast on the prison director, but after a moment everyone recovered and they continued discussing minor issues. In the end, it was decided, against his better judgement, that Andaros would cook for at least one meal a day, in addition to his normal technician work. Like so, the days continued as they took their classes and made preparations for the day they would enter Trinity Online.


    That night Andaros was forced to have sex with Yleiha. One of Thraxc''s settings made it so she became far too sexually excited, and another forced her to have sex with him at least once a night. She was also forced by the implant to be comepletly faithful to him, no matter what. He tried to resist this, but it was no use when her life was on the line.


    Unfortunately, he couldn''t escape the fate, sleeping with the young woman plastered to him. Even after what they had been forced to do, it was a restless night for Andaros with a naked beauty snuggling up against him, and he barely got any rest. It was a wonder that he didn''t lose his composure and attack her a second time, but somehow managed to control himself and avoid that.

 Prologue: Chapter Nine - Increasing worries.

    Andaros finished working on his latest unit, and placed the tools for working on the new unit on his desk. The experimental new drones were equipped with a miniature cold fussion reactor, and several high-grade weapon systems. The drones were designed as guard dogs, and Siri had been delighted to learn that the drone units were intended to have the same learning capability as her. Andaros and Siri modified a base version of her core and it''s initial coding as a base for the new units, creating a new A.I. for each of the devices. Equipped with advanced sensors and camoflage systems, their main function was to act as scouts and support units for the Sabertooths, badgers, deerlings, and the velicoraptors that had recently joined the group allied with Andaros and the manor.


    While experimental, these new units were in the last stage of developement. The six drones had been created using six different templates. They all had similar functions, but, like their personalities, they had all had different distinctions which set them apart from the other drones. Siri had made the suggestion to create them this way. In her words, "If they''re exactly the same, they''ll likely fight each other until only one remains. There can be only one! . . . Or something like that. . ." Andaros understood her point, and decided to follow her advice, so each unit had different weapon systems which matched their preprogrammed dispositions.


    Andaros left the naming of these units to Siri, who would act as the "big sister", and leader of the group. He instructed them to follow Siri''s orders, and so far they had done just that. This seventh unit was special, and was designed for the task of protecting himself as a concession to demands by the others living in the manor. It was larger than the drones, and while it shared many of the capabilities of the drones, it was absolutely different from them. The unit was much larger then it''s sisters, and was the only one with a humanoid, bio-tech engineered, design. It did not have an A.I., and was instead a second body for Siri, a second skin if you will.


    The unit''s completion was taking much more time to implement than the other drones, as the system for it was actually much more advanced than those of the others. It had an A.I. Core designed to be the same as that of Siri on a much smaller scale, and the two were changed to make them linked to a degree that one could not fully imagine. The bio-tech engineered second body had been a request from Siri, which had quickly gained support from all those living in the manor, besides himself and the four young girls, who were still fairly unresponsive. In the end he reluctantly agreed to make it, but went overboard in creating the design and assisting in implementing it.


    Siri was excited to be able to try out the new body, as it was a living body and would allow her to experience what living as a human was like, though without the weakness of a human body. Her skin was still soft, but incredibly strong, especially when compaired to the human body. There were some parts that were pure tech designed to work off the body''s power, and these were what he had been working on and improving so as not to cause her to harm herself when using them to defend him.


    The body had been grown to Siri''s specifications by a company which was ironically owned by the prison''s director, and quickly shipped to the prison along with equipment designed to keep it alive until she was officially able to be fully connect with, and inhabit it. The installation locations where the regular tech were installed were grown into it by that company, and designed to not interfere with the body''s bones. They were melded to the body along with connections designed to connect the body''s natural bionetics and the standard technology together to power the standard technology through the biometrics of the genetically engineered body. To Andaros''s unease, this body had all the functions of a normal female body, including the reproductive functions. This fact alone gave him great distress, but he reluctantly had to agree to it due to the insistence of Qora, and a personal request to allow it from Siri, who was interested in experienceing how hormones affected humans.


    The core''s connection for Siri''s new body was imbedded in the brain of that new body, and was actually a miniaturized implant version of her main core. How it worked was allowing her cognitive functions to connect and control the body, while allowing the brain''s various functions to act as intended in nature. This would allow Siri to more accurately feel how humans do, so he had trouble objecting to this setup. In fact, he had only helped Siri design the core implant unit, and it was capable of completely copying her consciousness into the body, allowing her to become one with the body and yet still control her original form if she wished. The implant was built to exacting standards and installed by Thraxc''s subordinate company during the growth process of the new body, along with the bio-tech equipment installation locations. Once it had arrived, Andaros finally installed all the tech that was designed to be installed in the body. They then had to test over and over until they could confirm the installed devices would not harm the new body, and were unobtrusive.


    Andaros pushed in the latest installation, and let out a sigh. It was certainly hard to concentrate with such a beautiful female body in front of him, and these upgrades were difficult to do with anything more than a bikini on, so the body''''s generous proportions were, simply put, shown off and had a habit of distracting him from his job.


    Siri had designed the body based on his mother, but then modified it so much that she could be confused for her sister, or niece. The genetics were completely different, but the looks were like that.


    There were a few big differences between the two bodies of his mother and Siri; one being Siri''s huge bust when compaired to his mother''s moderate size,  the second being her hips, which were obviously wider than his mom''s, third was her gorgeous, well-endowed butt where his mother had a much more plain and flatter, though still nice, one by comparison, with her long, shapely legs that would make his short-legged mother jealous being the last major difference.


    The most alike body part between the two was their faces, as she had only made a few minor changes such as eye, and hair color, so that he wouldn''t be tormented by looking at an exact replica of his lost mother''s face all the time. His mother had been quite beautiful, especially her face that was very pleasing to the eye, so she kept that very close to the original, despite the minor changes. Siri''s new body was on a whole different level from his mother''s beauty, and it was quite taxxing on his mental resources. Only the similarity between their faces had allowed him to maintain his composure in that situation.


    Andaros couldn''t help sighing over the number of beautiful females around him, and the complex situation he was in. Over the past month since meeting the new females to their group, Andaros had agonized over the situation with Reiya and Meiya, the trouble with Caera, and Qora''s insistence on trying to make him sleep alongside the lovely sex slave, Yleiha. He was surprised by this insistence, but she didn''t show any jealousy so long as she got her time with him each day, so he decided to leave the situation be. Too many things were piling up, and he was completely frustrated by all of it, so he couldn''t be bothered to complain about one more.


    "Master, are all the modifications complete," he heard Siri ask.


    "Uh?" {Ah, yes, they are complete.}


    "Would you like me to test the new changes," she asked.


    {Yeah, just a basic test,} he answered, {I''m still not satisfied enough with the modifications to let you walk around in the new body without first verifying that you won''t have a tragic accident first.}


    "Alright, I''ll just test the tech from this side and be ready to cut the connection in case of a problem then," she replied without being bothered by his cautiousness. If she were to speak her mind about his caution, Siri would have to admit she was quite touched by it, although she was a bit impatient to be able to actually experience the new body as well.


    {Thanks,} Andaros replied, {I''ll step back to a safe position.}


    Siri began to test the arm equipment that had been giving them trouble once he had stepped away at a distance she considered safe. Nothing seemed to be wrong, but he couldn''t really tell until she gave her input on what she felt when activating it. The biggest trouble with the device they''d been testing was the power required was too much, so he was having to tweak the device to adjust for that without causing an instability in it and resulting in a chain reaction that would kill the new body and possibly Siri if she was fully merged with it. Replacing the body was a lot easier than replacing all the experience Siri had, and Andaros had come to rely on the A.I. so he didn''t wish to risk damaging, or losing her. Thus, he wouldn''t let her fully connect with the new body until they had fixed this issue.


    After a few moments of testing, Siri said, "It''s no use Master." Pausing for a few moments, the A.I. decided to voice her thoughts. "Isn''t there some way to provide more power?"


    {I cannot provide more power using any of the devices I have available, I do not have enough space,} he told her, {There is one power device that might work, but the designer disappeared, and has not been seen in years.}


    "What device would that be Master?"


    {It is a power device about 1-2 inches in diameter which can produce enough power to easily power all your new body''s devices combined and still have room to spare,} Andaros explained. {The people I heard about it from hypothesized that the device gathers an unknown type of r-a-d-a-t-i-o-n and converts it into standard forms of power. Unfortunately, I have neither the knowledge, nor do I believe I have the materials to build such a device. It is too bad, if we could stabilize the shield, it would go a long ways to protecting both you, and others. If the device was as powerful as they said, I could even upgrade the field further so that it would be able to withstand even more damage.}


    "Hey, Andaros, food''s ready," the gentle sounding woman from Teraise''s team interrupted their conversation. Andaros turned to see her staring quizically at the exposed device in the arm of the new body. "What''s the matter, having troubles," she said after looking at his wryly smiling face, "Mind if I take a look?"


    {Sure.}


    "Hmmm, a Glofin/Schaes Shield generator," she murmurred, catching him off guard. "This is a good choice for a solid-materialization force field generator. Well, it has stability, and power, but you''re never going to be able to power it up with bionetics, even if the body can produce more than the usual amount."


    {You know about that?} Andaros as quite surprised.


    "Eh? Ah, yeah, of course I do. Do you mind if I rummage through your parts, and use some of your tools," she asked him.


    {Yes, that would be fine.}


    "Alright, go get us both some food, and I''ll show you how to build something nice," she said smiling at him.


    {Okay, I will return shortly,} he answered, and left.


    It took Andros about fifteen minutes to return with two cafeteria-style trays full of piping hot food under covers, two cups, and a good old fashioned canteen. He found that Kanelle had pulled out a number of micro-chips, wiring, and various small-scale devices and tools and set them neatly on the workspace near Siri''s new body.


    "Oh, good, you''re back," she told him. "Thanks, I''m starving," she added on as she took a tray from him.


    Andaros separated the two cups he had brought, placed them down, and carefully poured some cold juice into the cups.


    "Oh, thanks Andaros," she said in between bites, he nodded his head and began to eat himself. "Ah, it''s Teraise''s food today, huh? *sigh* It''s edible, but he could stand to learn a thing or two from you. Now, your food I could eat every meal of every day, his. . . not so much."


    From that point, the two of them were silent as they ate, mainly because they were focused on eating. Once they had finally finished, Kanelle spoke to him once more.


    "What I''m about to show you how to build doesn''t leave this room. Using it in your drones and such is fine, but don''t tell anyone how to build it, okay?"


    {Yes, understood.}


    "Good, creating this device almost got me killed, so it is absolutely imperative that you do not let anyone know that you know how to build it," she told him. "The device I''m about to show you how to build is most likely the device that you were telling Siri about. Siri, make sure you don''t tell anyone about this either, okay?"


    "Understood Mistress Kanelle," came the reply, "I will certainly not speak of this and will encrypt the data under the most strenuous encryption methods available to me as I do not wish to endanger either Master Andaros, or yourself Mistress."


    "Thank you, Siri," she replied, smiling in her gentle manner. "It is very important that you do so, I lost my entire family due to this device. I am only confiding in showing you this device because it is important in order to provide the power necessary to protect yourselves, otherwise I would continue to keep it secret. Luckily, we are far from those who would want this information, otherwise, I would not be telling you about this process. Pay attention."


    Kanelle then began to explain how to device worked, and what it did. It turned out that the device did indeed absorb radiation in order to produce power, but the radiation type was not mysterious, nor was it a new form of radiation. The device used the most commonly known form of heat radiation, infrared, to produce it''s power. It used a very small amount of heat in order to produce quite a massive amount of power, and thus could produce an almost infinite amount of power.


    The power produced was so much that the costs could be offset by more than 3,000 times just by powering an old earth portable heater with the device. It was quite simple to make when considering the materials, but the process of making the device was something that would be quite impossible to understand if not for her careful instruction. It was an idea that almost no one would ever think of, and in his mind she was already a genius that would only occur once in a trillion years. At least, that''s the way it appeared to the young man with the angry eyes.


    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    {So that is how it is done,} Andaros replied while deep in thought. He then began to rummage through his materials and began to build his own device.


    "Eh? That''s wrong, why are you doing it that way," Kanelle asked suddenly as he worked.


    Andaros was busy working, so he quickly signed, {Wait,} before continuing his work. Halfway through, he extracted the shield device from the arm, and began to disassemble and rebuild the device while incorporating the device he was putting together. When he was done, there was a completely new shield device there on the desk. he connected some wires to it, and indicated, {Please send the usual signal to activate the device Siri,} as he held the device carefully.


    "Understood master, please step back Mistress Kanelle," Siri asked, as the young woman was indeed in the activation area.


    After Kanelle moved back, the signal was sent, and a semi-transparent shield suddenly appeared about half an inch in front of the device, sitting there floating in the air. Andaros moved the device, and the shield moved with it. As she observed, Kanelle could swear that the field was much less transparent than the normal shield. As far as these fields went, the less transparent they were, the more powerful they would be. A hundredth of a percent less transparency could increase the strength of the force-field by 10 times the strength, and this was at least 3% less light transmittance than the the normal for the original shield she had seen.


    "This, what did you do," she asked, looking at the field in a dumbfounded manner.


    {I rebuilt and improved the field generator using the device you showed me,} he explained.


    "HOW?!"


    {I took the two concepts and combined them by modifying your device,} he explained after having Siri turn the field off. {They were compatible, and I thought the power device you showed me could fix the inherent issues with the shield generator. So, I took the idea for your power core, and modified it to increase the stability of the shield generator, in addition to powering it. Thankfully, it worked out.}


    "YOU DID WHAT," she screamed. "You only saw me do it once, and you completely remodelled the device to your purposes! Are you a monster?!"


    {No, I do not think so,} he answered, a bit befuddled.


    She sighed heavily after seeing this, and looked grumpily at him. "I''ve been trying to improve that device for years, and you go and modify it within mere moments of me showing you how to make it, you better explain what you did," she told him unhappily.


    {Understood,} he answered, smiling wryly.


    Andaros then began to explain his idea, how he had modified the design, and why the design was changed. His idea was as simple, and yet complex as the idea that had spawned her creation of the original, it left her impressed, and a bit shocked that she hadn''t thought of it in the time since she created the first power core that had cost her family''s lives.


    "This does not go beyond this room," she instructed seriously, "make sure you encrypt this information so much that it would take them trillions of years to crack Siri."


    {Is it that important,} Andaros couldn''t help asking.


    "Indeed it is, Master," Siri answered for her, "Whomever was willing to kill her family for the device would certainly be more than willing to do so once again if this data was leaked. It must be a closely guarded secret, and the information must not be allowed to leak lest it costs you both your lives and those of all who are on this planet."


    "We may be able to tell Master Thraxc, but we have to be careful in doing so," Kanelle said. "He certainly won''t harm us, but there are many bugs in his offices so he has to activate the anti-spy measures before it is spoken of."


    "You don''t need to worry about that Miss Drek''n''lora," Thraxc''s voice suddenly sounded out. "I have made certain that the location you are in is protected against eavesdropping by anyone but myself. Oh, and have activated the anti-spy counter-measures, in both locations as soon as my helper A.I. informed me of an interesting conversation going on over there, so there''s no need to be tense. Siri, I''ll have him take a look at the data, so please allow my assistant permission to view the file when you apply your encryptions, and send it to him via this feed."


    "Understood Director Thraxc," Siri responded, a bit grumpy that he was hijacking her audio feed. After a moment, she added, "Encryption completed, sending now."


    "Thank you Siri," he thanked her, "We''ll keep this data confidential, and I''ll have our technicians go over the design and the data later on. Those fields won''t work against me, but I believe they should have the power to even withstand a battleship''s main cannons if it is needed. Hurry up and install the device, and bring Siri''s new body online, my helper A.I. has been quite interested in how it will turn out, as am I."


    {I can install the device, but I have no clothes ready for Siri currently," Andaros answered hesitantly.


    "That''s fine, it''s why she has one of those old earth bikinis on after all," Thraxc responded without any qualms.


    Andaros could only sigh before replying, {Understood.}


    The installation took a bit, as he had to make modifications to the mounts on the device side, but once it was ready it only took a moment to install. After that, they started the procedure to transfer Siri''s consciousness to the new body. That actually took much longer than the installation of the new shield, and then she finally opened her eyes.


    "I can see. I can see through eyes like yours Master," was the first thing Siri said, then started crying. "Tears, these are tears? I had heard that people cry both when sad or happy, so this is what it feels like to cry from happiness," she added while sniffling. "Mwaster, pwease desconnect the lifesaving devices, I wish to experience more of what it is like to be alive."


    The beginning of her last sentence was a bit garbled due to her happy tears, but she managed to make the rest fairly clear. Following her request, Andaros''s did so, but told her to be patient and let him work on her arm weapon while she got used to sitting up and moving her limbs. She gladly agreed, and messed around while he modified her right arm''s weapon using the new power supply modified from Kanelle''s original device. One could call it the crystallization of both of their understanding, their current magnum opus. Once the modifications were made, he reinstalled the device so that it would be available for her use when she needed it. Thraxc also had them transfer the data for the new weapon, once it was completed.


    After the device was modified and installed, Andaros asked Siri, {Do you want to try walking?}


    "Yes please, Master," Siri replied.


    "Take my hands," Kanelle gave Andaros a wink as she stepped in front of Siri.


    She had noticed that Andaros was having trouble keeping his eyes on Siri''s face despite his hard work, so she stepped in to help. In addition, it would be best if the one helping could speak in an easy manner in order to give instructions, which Andaros could, quite obviously, not easily do. After Siri managed to take her hands, she helped her to stand, and patiently worked with her until she could stand on her own without much trouble. After this, she patiently helped her to learn to walk. This was a long, difficult process, due to her being like a newborn baby when it came to controlling her new body, but by evening she was beginning to walk on her own, albeit a bit shakily.


    Unfortunately, there were no clothes her size prepared, and she wouldn''t be able to put them on herself anyway with her current control, so Andaros had to take her hand and help her walk to the manor proper in the current bikini. This ended in a situation where Andaros was forced to continue walking with his arm sandwiched between two mountain peaks while Siri clumsily walked. It''s one thing to walk while using a robotic body, but using a living body is much more complex, and so she was still quite unsteady on her feet. As a result, Andaros was stuck between heaven and hell as he helped her make it into the manor, and Kanelle looked on while giggling quietly to herself.


    Siri was introduced to everyone in person, then Andaros had to endure Qora''s attempts to force him to have sex with the new Siri. This was a very taxxing affair for the young man, but he managed to stave her off, although he could not avoid Siri sleeping in the bed with him and Yleiha. Of course, he didn''t get much sleep with two very naked girls sleeping in the same bed with him, and one of them requiring something specific from him, so the next day was hell once again. The impact of two naked beauties sleeping against him was far too much stimulation, so sleeping was just too hard, even after dealing with Yleiha''s needs. It didn''t help that Siri was very curious about the whole affair and tried to join in herself. The next day he had the same problem, but on the third night he passed out unceremoniously, and didn''t even notice the two climbing in bed and snuggling up with him after taking advantage of his body''s defenseless situation. If he knew that Siri had been initiated to sex during this time, he would likely be very distraught.


    Qora got an enormous laugh out of the situation, so she didn''t mind the two taking his attention during this time, but on the fourth day he had to pay the piper. That night, she wore him out more than the two nights of sleeping with the two girls had, combined. The next night he once again collapsed into bed.


    Eventually, clothes and nightgowns were made for Siri and Yleiha, so he was finally able to get the two to wear something at night, which both helped, and hurt the situation, but by this point he was too weary to care anymore. Hiding a body like Siri''s was something that induced fantasizing in most men, so it could be considered counter-productive. Following wearing clothing, Siri developed a shyness involving the partially see-through nightgowns Qora had ordered, and her previous bikini. The situation was a bit incomprehensible, but it occurred all the same. Even Siri herself did not understand this reaction logically speaking, but she adapted with time. The worst part was she had no problem being seen naked by the young man, but wearing skimpy clothes caused her to be quite shy.


    Andaros didn''t mind letting Siri have the experience of living, but it had resulted in increasing worries. Caera had become jealous, and he would often wake to find the two beauties on his sides, and Caera laying on his chest, making it hard to breathe. His worries were only piling higher and higher, and it wasn''t good for his health. The worst part was Siri was slowly getting more and more attached to him, and more and more difficult to avoid being stuck with an arm in between her cleavage. He hoped that the capsules for Trinity would arrive soon so he could manage to get some time to himself, at this rate he would end up with severe trouble. As for Thraxc, he had forced Andaros to accept the twins as "potential" mates, meaning that he would eventually be forced to take them as wives. He hadn''t even been able to properly marry Qora yet, and now he had at least 4 other women, and a cat trying to attract him. One was a slave, but the other three women were difficult to avoid, especially Siri who was always protecting him.


    The continuously increasing worries were beginning to get to him more than was acceptable. He couldn''t complain much about the issues with Siri as he was partially responsible for those, but that didn''t mean he was comfortable with the extra attention from her either. He was not aware she had already slept with him, so he consoled himself that at least they hadn''t done anything yet. Little did he know that wasn''t the case at all, and Siri would often have her way with him while he was asleep. For Andaros''s part, he had wet dreams of the beauty, but had no clue that they were actually real, rather than just being realistic delusions. Yleiha and Qora kept silent about the situation, but sometimes giggled incomprehensibly at the young man.


    Most of the time, Caera actually chased her off of Andaros, and the reason she was found lying on top of him was that she was trying to "protect" the master she silently considered hers. Of course, there were times she took advantage of him without his knowing, but her shame over her initial rape of him limited these occurances. If he were to know the things that were going on in his sleep, he would likely just give up on everything. It was fortunate for him that he did not know what was going on at night at this time, as his instability from his mother''s death was only growing at the time. He would later learn of what had happened, but by that time he would be stable enough to withstand the resulting feelings.


    ------


    Time passed and nine months after his arrival on the planet, the pods for Trinity Online finally arrived. Andaros was surprised at the fact that four animal pods were also included, alongside the various other pods. The pods were not difficult to install, as they had their own power supplies and communications systems built in, and were simply required to be placed in the proper place and secured. The most they had to do was install the anchors for the devices. These pods had been modified for the prison''s purposes by the staff of Supercal in order to allow the prison staff to monitor the players'' gameplay, so they were a bit different from the usual pods. Thraxc had paid an exhorbitant amount for the modifications but, strangely enough, Andaros''s pod was not included in the modifications. This confused Andaros, but he wasn''t one to complain about such a thing.


    Andaros found himself dwelling on the issues with the girls and Caera once again, but doing this would not help so he forced himself to stop dwelling on these things. He followed the prompts given by the capsule''s A.I., and began to register his new account while considering the things he learned in the classes the prisoners and his companions were required to take.

 Prologue: Chapter Ten - Trinity Online & the planet Farside.

    Honestly, I thought this chapter was going to be longer than it is, but I didn''t want to give away too much information too quickly, so it ended up much shorter than I thought. I hope there aren''t too many errors, as I am kinda posting it pretty much right after finishing writing. I hope you enjoy the trivia involved. There are parts with lots of repetition, but I hope that repetition will make sense in the end. Enjoy.


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    Trinity Online was an advanced VRMMORPG that used advanced Space/Time communications devices in order to generate an almost lagless connection directly to the main server. The Units used on the player side were special pods that in the years since it''s inception had not been successfully tampered with, not even once. Trinity''s systems monitored brainwaves, nd used that as input, but it wasn''t well-known how it was done. All that was known was that the devices were able to cut off the impulses to the various parts of the body to a large degree without endangering the customer, and "transported" the customer''s consciousness into the game.


    Some had theorized that it used an enduced hypnotic state to allow the system to put the player into a waking dream, thus allowing them to experience the world, but this had never been proven, and Supercal continually maintained it''s silence about their proprietary technology. Neither comfirming, nor denying the hypothesis, this was Supercal''s stance, a stance that terribly frustrated those who wished to know their secret. Andaros supposed there was more to it after he heard this explanation, but kept the thought to himself. There was no reason to believe it was, or wasn''t as the experts thought, but there was the possibility it was as they said. He had no idea that his line of thought was completely correct, and the pods worked in a very different manner from what the experts believed.


    Trinity actually worked by isolating the player from reality, and interrupting the brainwaves at the source. This did not mean that it would kill players, as the pods allowed minor amounts of neural signals to continue down the spinal cord, and completely allowed signals to all the vital systems. Furthermore, a small amount of standard neural signals came through to the extremities, but these were weak enough that the body had muscle twitches. These twitches could range from mild, to severe, and were allowed in order to keep the players from becoming weak while in the pods, and the twitches often ended up strengthening the players, so there were few complaints. The pods had automatically tightening straps to hold down the players for just this reason, otherwise there was no telling if the customer might flail around and harm themselves while they were playing. The straps hadn''t failed, or tightened down too tightly since their design was very carefully done.


    Trinity''s track record on safety was extremely good, as the company took the safety and continued well-being of their constituents quite seriously. It was said that Supercal designed their pods to last tens of thousands of years without any issues. In the 2,000 plus years the game had been active, the company had never faced a case where a player had been harmed while playing the game. In fact, there were cases where the players had awoken to find hostile forces outside the pod unable to enter and harm them, such cases ended in the players using the internal communications to call for help, or occasionally ended in the criminals inside being arrested, sometimes alongside their attackers.


    In a certain light, Supercal''s perfect track record in regards to customer safety could be considered suspicious. However, it was known that the company''s two founders were safety freaks so nobody thought too much of it.


    -------


    Trinity Online''s original creator insisted on adhering to ultra realism in his master work. The only exception to this rule was the various interfaces and their assorted menus, everything else was quite realistic. Each world had it''s own physics, and it''s own common sense, but everything truly looked, and felt, very real. The planetary physics all had a standard basis, but each world''s physics were influenced by the various abilities that were meant to be available there. The base was the same, but things like Magic, or Psionics could change the world''s environment, and influence the physics and standards within the world. Many worlds had a mix of different standards, but a predominant setup within them. Some worlds had a very specific set of rules, or met the standards of Old Earth in it''s prime.


    Civilization levels varied on the planets of Trinity Online. Some worlds had super advanced levels of civilization that involved extreme levels of technology. Some worlds were in the dark ages or earlier and magic was prevalent. Still other worlds were based on psionics being the mainstay of society. There were worlds where things like super robots and mecha were commonly used war potential, while yet other worlds were based on nano-robotics instead. There were worlds where magic, technology, or psionics were mixed with one or both of the other types with one being the primary type, and the others being less common. Martial Arts were a theme common to all worlds, but cultivation was not heard of for most worlds.


    There were two worlds unlike the others, one that was like old earth in the 20th to 21st century, with only middle stage technology without psionics or magic, nor any kind of high technology. This world was different in that it commonly had one-way wormholes opening from it to one of the other worlds of Trinity Online. The other unusual world was Farside.


    Now, Farside was a rather unique style of world within Trinity, it was the only world where cultivation was the primary form of gaining power. It was also the only world where every single form of power was present in some form. In fact, Farside was quite unique in that Martial Arts was considered an advanced form of power.


    The world of Farside was a martial arts, magic, and psionics "cultivation world" with a background of high technology based on magic, martial arts, or psionic cultivation. In the past, the world was split between three factions which were each based on one of these three principles. Unfortunately, a great war decimated the planet, wiping out that golden age of civilization. Despite it''s setting, Farside was not all that popular due to the difficulty of playing in the world, and it''s current crude culture. The basic tutorial had been completed there many times despite these factors, but the special tutorial had not been comepleted even once due to it''s high degree of difficulty. Those who could even attempt this tutorial were only players who bought the super expensive "special" pods. Of these, the pod Andaros would be receiving, the platinum pod, was the most expensive kind, and cost enough to purchase a small habitable planet for yourself.


    -----


    Trinity had four basic stats, These were Body, Mind, Soul, and Luck/Blessing. Body governed Strength, Stamina, Endurance, Dexterity, Speed, and resistance to the elements, in general all health related stats. Mind was comprised of Intelligence, Wisdom, Magic, general Memory, resistance to the elements, and resistance to standard magic. Soul governed Psionics, resistances to the elements, resistance versus control effects, and resistances to psionic attacks. The Luck/Blessing stats were a bit unique, and which one you got depended on the world you started on. Both stats were equal in their general effect, but each had a specific bonus only that stat provided.


    Farside was an exception to the general rule of having luck or blessing in this case, as was the only world identical to 20th-21st century earth, these two planets incorporated the stats as a single stat, including both special bonuses into one stat, called lucky blessing ironically. This stat, and the ease of starting there made the earth-like planet quite a popular place to start, and then transfer from the planet via wormhole.


    The "Lucky Blessing" skill excompassed a great many things, including item drop rates, chance for items to be better than common, critical hits, chances to completely resist attacks/spells/psionics, and various other bonuses. The Luck component of the stat increased chances to win at gambling, and addtional bonuses to critical rates, while the Blessing component gave bonuses to the damage, critical rate, and costs of holy spells or certain psionic abilities. This was a stat that was quite enigmatic, but did give a visible difference with enough points. The only issue with this stat could only go from 0-100, and was randomly generated on character creation.


    Despite what one might think, having a high or low luck stat did not play a large role in the occurence of lucky or unlucky events. In fact, the stats only affected the chance by 10% at most. This meant, for every 5 points away from 50 points 1% would be added the natural chance of a fortuitous or disasterous event occuring, depending on if the stat was above or below that of course. In general, the mean was a luck score of 45-55, which were common to find, while the chances of encountering a 0 or a 100 luck score were exponentially difficult to hear about, let alone witness.


    These were the basic stats of Trinity, and what they affected.


    -----


    Classes in Trinity Online were a bit different from classic MMORPG classes. Classes within Trinity were non-existent in their normal form, and were instead handled as class titles which modified stats gained during level ups, and some even modified what weapons and armors could be equipped in exchange for certain bonuses. One example of this is the wizard class title, which made it so players could only equip cloth armor types and robes in exchange for a large bonus to magic damage. All players started with the classless class title, and could then earn a class title in order to gain various bonuses to stats during level up, and other bonuses.


    Four class titles could be earned, three combat classes and a single crafting or general classification class. General classification classes could be used in the combat class slots, but comback classes could not be used in the crafting/general classification class title slot. A class title slot could only be set once, and could only be upgraded for an advanced class title of that type later on. This caused the players to be required to carefully consider their class title changes. Initially, this caused a lot of criticism toward the game, but it was soon accepted, and the complaints were forgotten. The game was just so addictive that in the end this complication didn''t matter enough to bother with, especially when most abilities were not tied down to a specific class title.


    Incidentally, the classless class title could continue to be used if layers so desired. In exchange for a base stat/level modifier, the player could use any armors, weapons, and abilities that did not require a specific class title, but even if they had another class title that could equip the class title armor they would be unable to equip class title specific armors, or learn class title specific abilities or spells, no matter how much they tried.


    -----


    Trinity Online was comprised of over 100,000 habitable worlds, of which only around 5,000 could be chosen as starter planets. They came in many different sizes, but all of them shared a basic shape of being somewhat spherical. There were instances of oval planets in the game, but these were rare, as they were generally formed by two planets colliding, where the two cores unexpectedly did not merge. Not a single square or flat plain world could be found among the game worlds, as they operated on the basic laws of gravity found commonly known in the real universe. Most worlds in the game were earth sized planets, but this still only comprised around 60% of planets, and the rest had varying sizes and gravities.


    As stated before, Martal Arts, Magic and Psionics, Technology, Science and Civilization levels varied from planet to planet. Civilization levels had a tendency toward belonging to the dark ages or later, but there were still quite a lot at stages before this. Players first chose whether they wanted to pick a planet, or randomize. If the player chose to pick a planet, they were given a generous amount of information about that planet''s civilization level, social standards, what power types were available, and technologies available on planet, as well as a myriad of other information.


    It was well known that the majority of planets in Trinity Online worships the Trinity Goddesses, Elga, Luna, and Rino. It was said that these three goddesses had created all of the worlds of Trinity save one, but they were not jealous goddesses, and allowed others to worship whom they pleased. Still, those who did worship them gained their protection in the form of blessings, while those who did not would, of course, not gain their blessings. Around 86% of all planets worshipped the goddesses as their main deities, and gained their protection, while the other 14% were either agnostic, or worshiped other beings besides the three.


    Trinity online held a multitude of available playable races. Among these races were the typical fantasy races such as Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Faeries, and all their variations. There were also the atypical Angaellis, Daemonis, Horlen, Graeven, and a large number of other races. These atypical races were generally not set as a starter race except on certain planets.


    As with any rule, there were some exceptions to the rule of certain races only being available on certain planets. Trinity had a system that would allow for players to randomly roll for a race not usually available as a starter race on a certain planet, or even not available on that planet at all under normal circumstances. These races didn''t always show up, as even their availability was randomized, but people often hoped to come across one of these races during character creation.


    Unfortunately, a player only had one chance at creating a character during their lifetime, and they could not redo the racial roll. No matter if they were to change their retinal pattern, or alter their DNA, this was still a fact. No one knew the exact way that Trinity''s systems identified a user, but in all the years the game had been active not a single individual had been capable of tricking the system. Many tried to do so, but all were defeated. In fact, Trinity held an annual contest to see if anyone could trick the system, but not once had anyone ever won the prize. The president of the company often boasted, "kek, kek, kek! You can''t change that part of you! keh, keh, keh," while laughing like some kind of third rate villian. No one seemed to have figured out what that part was, though Andaros had an idea what it may be.


    Andaros was a believer of an Old Earth religion, Christianity. Now, one might wonder how he could believe in an old religion when humanity of Old Earth had a tendency toward agnosticism in the latter part of the 20th century, but science truthfully doesn''t need to be separated from religion, so the religion survived. It''s biggest teaching being God''s love, the religion had survived the transition to space, along with a few of the biggest religions of Earth. They weren''t huge in the greater galaxy, but they had survived.


    Chrisitianity, with it''s focus being on love, was one of the more popular Old Earth religions among the other races, so it wasn''t uncommon for someone such as Andaros to believe. His belief was part of the reason for his troubled heart, while the other was the rules ingrained into him from his homeworld. One of the things that troubled him greatly was his belief that one man should be with one woman, a troubling thing indeed in his current situation.


    Anyway. . . Andaros thought the most likely suspect for the thing one couldn''t change about themselves was the soul, an important aspect of most Old Earth religions that had survived. This was a concept that had not been officially proven, even in the greater galaxy, but Andaros often felt the existence of such. There are many phenomena that still could not be explained using the basic laws of nature, and the soul is one of these. Nobody knows how, or when a soul is formed, but Andaros personally thought it was formed before the body had even come to be. Whether this was true, he could not prove, but this was his belief.


    The soul is a mysterious thing, but what if Supercal had found a way to locate and identify this engimatic thing. If they were able to do so, with the present technology it would not be possible to modify, or change that one aspect of a person. If they held the only technology that could identify a soul, they would easily be able to limit the number of accounts and characters a player could have to only one. By doing so, they could keep the players from redoing their character rolls and gaining the more rare races by "cheating" the system. How they determined the sex was most likely by scanning for chromosomes, but it was possible the soul also determined this, so he wasn''t certain on how they determined it.


    The characters of the players in Trinity matched their actual sex, even those who had sex changes were properly identified by their original sex by the game. As far as was known, this had not failed in the entire history of the game. There were very few races that were not male or female, but were either asexual or hermaphrodite in the galaxy. Since there were only a few such sentient races in Trinity Online and their available planets were limited, they could choose to be any race available on the planet of their choosing and also choose the sex if they so wished. This could be quite disorienting, so warnings were given, both for the planet not having such races, and for the race itself. These warnings indicated the various symptoms the player might experience both inside, and outside, the game. Most players of these races kept to a similar race, but some adventurous individuals would occassionally choose to do otherwise while braving the side effects.


    Trinity had an innumerable amount of subscribers from among the many worlds of the greater galaxy, and was well received by all players. Supercal had it''s own private military in order to protect the main server, but they hardly needed it. The players'' fanaticism was to the degree that none of the major powers of the galaxy would dare attack them. A great deal of military men and women played the game, and they didn''t even want to bother with Supercal, lest the majority of their armed forces and citizens turn on them.


    Supercal did not personally discriminate against criminals, nor those who were different, though they would not knowingly sell to those currently involved in criminal means. Still, they did not look into the backgrounds of their constituents, so even criminal organizations wouldn''t do something so stupid as to attack Supercal.


    The prices for playing Trinity were quite reasonable, and could even be called a huge bargain considering the level of realism and safety while playing the game. The game never had lag, or errors while playing, so players never became angry in response to such issues. The service was so steady that players would immediately suspect another group should the service actually be interrupted, which, happily, never happened. As a result, Supercal was an economic giant that was so powerful even Thraxc had a run for his money when it came to the power they could wield. Of course, their power was economically based, where his was personal, but he could bring more power to bear in the end if he wished to bring The Company into the fray. That being said, Thraxc would never do such a thing unless Supercal were to become corrupt and despotic.


    -----


    Details concerning the world of Farside:


    Star Name: Soljier


    Star Type: O


    Star size: Approximately five times the diameter of Sol


    Star Temperature: Appromixately 45,000 Kelvin


    Average Distance from Star: 1,200,140,783 km


    Perihelion: 1,143,684,375 km


    Aphelion:  1,342,738,942 km


    Length of Solar Day: 24 hours


    Length of Solar Year: 1,116 days (There are 36 months at exactly 31 days each.)


    Equatorial inclination: 35.436 degrees


    Planetary Size: Roughly 118,000 kilometers


    Planetary Gravity: 1.2 G


    Number of continents: 1 Pangaea class, 13 major class, 5 minor class


    Islands: 42,000 minor archipelagoes, 1,400 separate


    Geographic Details:


    The Pangaea class Algaoan Continent is roughly shaped like a square aligned on it''s corner according to the planetary axis. Near each of the points is a major continent approximately the size of South or North America, and to each side is a minor continent around the size of Australia. These eight continents are each connected to the Algaoan continent by a landbridge which appears once every 3-4 months for 8-10 days for the major continents and 3-5 days for the all but one of the minor continents. Surrounding each of the land bridges and the minor continents is a barrier field of sharp rocky spires, undersea reefs, and whirlpools which makes invading them through the surrounding seas extremely prohibitive.


    Each of the major continents contain a main environment. For example, one of them is comprised almost solely of deserts, a combination of sandy deserts and high deserts is found on this continent. Another of the major continents houses a massive tropical rainforest. Among the minor continents, one truly stands out.


    This "minor" continent goes by the name of Avelynn and spans approximately 8,000,000 square kilometers. It is also known as The Veiled Isle, and is surrounded by a massive, white curtain wall around it''s entire exterior. This wall is exceedingly hard and quite smooth, and the winds around it''s outer surface are extremely powerful, which makes invasion by climbing this wall exceedingly difficult. The only known entrance to this continent is through a cave which connects to the landbridge connecting the continent to Algaoa. This small cave can fit two large people abreast, and slopes upward to the interior of the continent. The cave is guarded by an unknown guardian and the land bridge appears for only 1 day every ten years, lending to the continent''s reputation of never having been successfully invaded by fell beasts.


    The climate of The Veiled Isle, contrary to what one might think, is quite temperate. The continent houses mainly forests and grasslands, and even houses a temperate rainforest. Along the massive 10 km tall outer walls can be found 23 gigantic waterfalls, which feed into as many rivers. These rivers in turn wind for hundreds of thousands of kilometers, and finally feed into a single lake which has an unknown outlet. These rivers are fed by a gigantic glacial formation at the top of the curtain walls.


    This glacial formation hangs inward into the continent, and not a single bit has fallen into the continent despite the strange configuration. The glacial formation refracts light into the continent, causing the sunrise and sunset to arrive at a similar time to the Algaoan continent. Experts have stipulated that this glacial formation is actually supported by a massive runic circle which is carved into the top of the curtain walls of this roughly circular continent. This is generally accepted as fact, as otherwise such a gigantic glacial formation should not be able to support itself while overhanging the walls by several kilometers, and naturally would not be so clear.


    The manner by which the light was refracted alone should not be possible without some splitting of the various rays, but the light is not split into multiple wave lengths in any degree, supporting the theory behind the glacial formation''s source of strength. Such a runic circle is still far too complex for most people to imagine, let alone create, so this remains only a stipulation on the part of the experts who have put forth the theory.


    Another supporting aspect of the theory behind the glacial formation lies in the central lake. Inside this lake is a very large, perfectly circular island on which lie the remains of an ancient civilization. This city has never been successfully reached, but evidence of a runic circle surrounding the ruins of that city can be seen from a nearby tall hill.


    The Algaoan continent, as stated before, is shaped like a rough square tipped on it''s corner, a diamond, if you wish to call it that. The continent is covered by massive forests and great grasslands. Three great mountain ranges exist equidistant to the north, west, and east of the  center of the continent, forming four sides of a square. There are also much smaller mountain ranges spread out in various areas, but only these three mountain ranges tower to such heights as a range. The heights of these great mountains reach heights that make Olympus Mons look puny in comparison.


    These great mountain ranges do not actually touch at where the corners of the square would be. On what would be the fourth side of what would be the square there is only a single mountain, located in the grasslands far to the south. This jagged peak towers to the height of Olympus Mons, surveying the lands surrounding it, like a lonely king. Most people know of this mountain as Kuj?re Tomai, The Lonely Mountain, and it is the subject of many legends.


    From Kuj?re Tomai flows a single river, winding it''s way through the southern part of the Pangaea class super continent. This colossal river spreads out into many, many smaller rivers, supporting countless communities of humans and their allied races.


    The great forest within the confines of the three great mountain ranges is considered a holy place, and rumors suggest that the smaller mountain range within is the domain of countless holy spirits. The lands outside the southern plains and this sacred area are the homes of various monsters and races, many of whom are hostile to the human race, and thus their allies as well.


    To the west of the super continent of Algaoa lies the continent of Chael and the Desolate Lands, a place of high deserts, mesas, and the Sea of Sand, a massive desert far larger than the most mighty deserts of Earth. The only water sources in this land are found at the tops of the mesas, or flowing down their sides, only to disappear upon striking the hot sands below. This place is one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet for any of the sentient races. Only a small community of hearty warriors is known to make their home in these inhospitable lands, high atop the largest Mesa on the continent. This place is the stuff of legends, and reaching it safely is nigh impossible for the other races of the world.


    To the East of Algaoa lies the continent of Rhje and it''s dense tropical rainforests. Breaking the dense canopy of trees are both mountains and mesas, though the mesas tend to have their own isolated rainforest environments flourishing on top of them. This continent is home to the highest concentration of unique beasts and animals on the planet. Many ruins of ancient civilizations similar to the incans and aztecs can be found here.


    To the North of Algaoa is the Zolne continent. This is the continent that mankind knows the least about, and only one legend of it''s dense coniferous forests has survived to give any insight into this continent.


    The major continent to the South of the Algaoan super continent is known as Frelsnor. This land of towering mountains and deep rifts, is rife with danger on the surface. The mighty dwarven race makes their home under these mountains. A massive network of underground highways connect the dwarven cities to each other, these are the only somewhat safe method of travel throughout the continent. Even with the security of the dwarves, these massive and winding highways are not easily defended. Thus, weaker monsters are known to make their nests in the less traveled tunnels, or in abandoned dwarven cities.


    One example of these monster races is the Kobold race, who have made their homes within several abandoned dwarven cities. The race of dragon/human hybrid look alikes is known to be quite hostile to other races, but thankfully do not leave the few cities they have inhabited in any large numbers.


    Another monster race that has made their home within an abandoned dwarven city is the Drabcla race, a race similar to a dwarf/ant centaur. The Drabcla race are fairly gentle among the monster races, and are known to maintain a neutral attitude unless hostility is shown toward them, at which point the hostile being is often swarmed by hundreds or thousands of angry Drabcla. As most monsters are hostile to any but their own, the areas the Drabcla inhabit are fairly safe for the merchants of the sentient races. In fact, the only reason the Drabcla are considered a monster race is that no one has successfully communicated with the race.


    Culture on Farside:


    Societies on Farside vary greatly, but most are of the kingdoms of humans and their allies are on a midieval level. While most of Farsidian life is on a midieval level, there is technology present, albeit a strange technology based on completely different principles than our own.


    These technologies are, for the most part, fairly rare, and are based off of a crystal the allied races call dreufsh. This crystal absorbs, and often houses, a unique energy the scholars of Farside call Velz Dreuf, or spiritual energy if you were to translate it to English. The artificers of the allied races have learned to use the energy stored inside these crystals to produce a variety of effects. The devices take various forms, and are typically expensive, but there are two relative exceptions.


    The two most common and inexpensive devices are, surprisingly, toilets and showers. These devices only share some similarities with our modern amenities of the same name, such as the toilet having a ring for you to sit on. They use spirit power to either break down, or condense certain types of matter.  Home sized units of these two devices are, as stated above, fairly cheap, but portable versions of the devices are much more expensive. As the materials to make the same reaction are much more expensive, and the frames and parts must be much more durable, the costs of materials alone are astronimically higher, let alone engineering costs. Thus, portable versions of these devices are much more expensive, and not very common even amongst wealthy merchants and adventurers.


    The most important spirit crystal device on the planet of Farside is typically the most expensive. Reliant on a fist sized spirit crystal which houses an ancient spirit, these belt-like devices allow the wearer to contract with, and borrow the power of the spirits housed within and apply this power to strengthen Martial and Magic powers. These devices allowed the rise of the Heldunfend and Aldensaige to positions of prominence.


    In fact, to the majority of societies related to humankind, the entire economy, mythology, and theology revolve around the two major classes of fighters. The word Heldunfend, which can be roughly translated as Siege Guard, is synonomous with the martial classes. It is an umbrella class, just as the Aldensaige is, but focuses on martial prowess, weapon handling, and armor usage. The word Aldensaige can be translated as wise one, and is synonomous with classes which rely on knowledge and magic. This umbrella class focuses on wisdom, intelligence, and magical power to protect the allied races, individual kingdoms, or even families and clans. There are few classes that do not specifically fall under either class.


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    One example of such a class is the spirit gunner class, a group of warriors who fight mainly using spirit guns. These weapons convert spirit power into various elemental projectiles. Spirit guns are exceedingly rare ancient technology and the class is thus quite rare. In general, Spirit guns have a set element, though there are a few even rarer guns that have been found which use various "cartridges" to change the element fired. These cartridge devices are called Vorsken, though not many know of these devices, or the spirit guns they''re designed to work with. The guns designed around these cartridges fire pure spiritual energy if no cartridge is present. While spirit gunners rely on spiritual damage, they also rely on certain martial techniques to keep their distance from their targets, or protect themselves from excessive harm. Therefore, the class does not really fit precisely within any either the Heldunfend, or Aldensaige umbrella classes.


    The main races of Farside include the Human, Elves and Dwarves, or Huma, Regel, and D?o. These three races are just like the normal concepts of their races in our world. The Huma are well accustomed and equipped to be adaptable, the Regel are long lived and fair, and the D?o are short, stout, and often have fiery tempers.


    Huma can excel in almost any field of study. Their adaptability allows for a wide range of studies, and you can find Huma working a great variety of jobs throughout the allied lands.


    The Regel are suited to fencing, bowmanship, and magic. The Regel excel in the use of their rapiers, but are terrible at using any other type of melee weapon. They are quite naturally the best at working with and producing wood products, and a bow produced by a Regel Woodmaster sells for extremely high prices.


    The D?o excel in crafting anything using metal, and quite often produce tinkerers as well. This race of master craftsmen are responsible for the production of the spirit belts, or Schlaef. They are, of course, not the originators of this technology, and have simply learned how to produce facsimilies of the ancient spirit belts. Thus, their products are inferior to the Ancients'' belts, but are much more common.


    Among the races of Farside, there are several unique or rare types. Two examples of this are the Angaellis and Daemonis. Under normal circumstances, these two races look very much human, but they are capable of projecting energy wings and armor naturally. In rare cases, the Angaellis and Daemonis can also project energy weapons to use against their enemies. In regards to these individuals, they are unable to use any other weapons of that type, this can be limited to that specific type, or a general type such as melee or ranged weapons. The fact that they look like standard humans has saved their race a number of times.


    The most common place where Angaellis and Daemonis can be found is on the Veiled Isle. There the two races have congregated to create a nation ruled by a queen. Rather than a typical monarchy, they opted for a Queendom ruled by the decendants of their savior-queen. The queendom resembles a fuedal monarchy, but only female descendants have the right to inherit the throne. Due to various other reasons, the royal family is rather uniquely arranged.


    The Angaellis and Daemonis are extremely rare characters for players to gain as their own characters, and are only found when choosing Farside as a starter planet under normal circumstances.


    Like any other midieval world, Farside has it''s darksides. More specifically, Farside has a great deal of slavery, and in most cases those with power heavily abuse it. Slaves are often treated like some kind of animal, and are often treated quite poorly by their owners. Common examples of their poor treatment are being forced to sit on the floor while their master eats, and made to eat the scraps their master tosses on the floor without being allowed to use their hands, being forced to do heavy labor without any thought for their safety, and being forced to act as a vanguard without proper equipment, cannon fodder if you will.


    Being a slave is a truly miserable existence, and no one would want to be one under normal circumstances. The only type of slave that is normally treated fairly well are birthing slaves. These attractive young women are required to mate with their masters once a day at any time they feel like it, even in public. In exchange, they are mostly treated fairly well, and properly taken care of. After all, what male would want to sleep with a dirty, grimy girl under normal circumstances. Only in lower class people will you see them mating with a birthing slave in public, as the royals and nobles tend to consider this behavior uncouth. Abusing birthing slaves is looked down upon by the upper class, and can cause a huge loss of face, which serves to deter their mistreatement, but unfortunately this does not apply to most slaves.


    Clans, Nobility, and Royalty of Farside:


    The nobility and royalty of Farside are often rather greedy individuals, but are commonly held in check by a simple, yet complex concept, face. These groups care most about their clan''s honor, and if they were to mistreat the people below them it would strike a blow at the pride of their clansmen, causing them to alienate the person who would do anything to harm their face. Most often, the offender will be looked down upon, or even abused for harming the clan''s image. The repeat offenders may be excommunicated from the clan, and the most horrible offenders may even be put to death in secret in order to protect their clan''s image from further abuse.


    Clans are the most common grouping of individuals or families in existence on Farside. These groups vary n size, and often wage wars against other clans. The most common form of war amongst the clans are economic fights, or tournaments to show off the power of the participants. Economic turmoils are typically rather peaceful on the outside, but can be quite brutal inactuality. Tournaments most often do not allow for purposeful killing of participants, but are by no means peaceful events, and can often end in participants losing their lives.


    Among the clans there is a strict hierarchy based on their power, few are the clans that are economically strong, but physically weak. Weak clans can rarely lift their heads, and are often taken advantage of by those with power. This most often takes the form of heavy taxation of those beneath them, but the need to properly maintain their face usually limits the exploitation to no more than 50% of the proceeds gained by a lesser clan. Rarely can economic activity be hidden from the greater clans except in regions that are far from their sphere of influence, or disputed by another clan on par with them.


    Regular clans are limited in the military forces they are allowed to hold. This limit often depends on the size of the clan, but typically is much, much smaller than the military forces supporting the royalty of their nation. Lesser clans often have no more than a 20-100 person count of warriors, while greater clans often have up to 500 seasoned troops. These groups are formally trained and equipped by the clan, thus the equipment of a lesser clan will have a great disparity from that of a greater clan, as will the quality of their warriors. All clan members will generally have some form of combat training, but only truly excellent individuals will receive the support of the clan.


    The Noble Clans most often have a long heritage, and support the royal family of their country. These clans are the backbone of the country, and hold enormous power within their nation. The noble clans value their face more than any other clan on Farside, aside from the royals, and thus are very careful with how they act in public. The battles or the nobles are held in secret, and often involve intrigue, and sobotage, rather than large troop movements. They often jostle their way to get the royals of their country to pass a law that will benefit themselves, and hinder their competition, rather than fighting bloody fights.


    The forces of the noble clans number between 1,000 and 10,000 typically speaking, and are comprised of Elite and Advanced forces. They often have a few top quality forces, but are limited in power when compaired to the Royals'' personal forces. These forces are mostly used to subdue fell beasts rather than humans, but their training often includes anti-human warfare as wars between kingdoms are still fairly common.


    Royalty of Farside hold themselves above the other clans, and individuals of their nation. They often refer to themselves in the third person, and hold etiquette as something sacred. Thees and thous are quite often used, and there is a standard form of address among the nations, otherwise they would not be able to communicate. Common etiquette involves forms of address in and out of court, table manners, and speech, but each country has their own quirks in their etiquette.


    The forces of the royals can be considered the best of the best in their given country. Even the weakest royal in a nation will have 5000-20,000 crack troops under his or her banner, while the King or Queen of the given nation will often have a standing army of 100,000 or more troops that are the elite or the elite. These forces are trained day and night, and are comprised of the best of the best of their nations forces. These men, and women are taken from the best forces of their constituents clans, and swear an oath of loyalty to the leader of their nation, and often to the specific royal they serve under. This depends on the country''s laws, and some countries do not allow the lesser royals to have their own personal forces yet provide the forces of their leaders to protect them while others do allow these personal forces, although they have to be specially trained by that royal.


    Religion on Farside:


    The religion of Farside is one of the few exceptions to worshipping the Trinity Goddesses, and revolves around the spirits instead. The spirits are revered on Farside, and use their powers to help the various races of Farside. A religion that worships any given one of the Greater Spirits can be found on the planet.


    On their 15th birthday, individuals of the various playable races will typically receive the blessings and protection of a spirit. Usually these spirits are lesser spirits, but once in a while a minor or major spirit may take an interest in an individual and give them their blessings. Only in extremely rare circumstances do the Greater Spirits take an interest in a specific individual and bless them. It is unheard of for more than one spirit to bless an individual.


    Monsters of Farside:


    Every world of Trinity Online has it''s own general type of monsters, on the world of Farside, these monsters take the form of beasts, along with a few rare common monsters such as goblins.


    Fell beasts are the most common type of beast, and ressemble animals, though on a larger scale. These beasts often look like a mix of several types of animals with a main body type, such as combining the body of a wolf with the features of a bull, or the body of a tiger with the wings of a bird. Fell beasts have a core that houses power, and these cores give them abilities beyond would could normally be available to animals, these abilities can include special martial abilities, being able to control a small amount of a certain element, magic, spirit powers, or things like changing their size at will, among other things. The core of these beasts can be used in various weapons, armors, and devices to produce a desired result, but careful handling is required lest they explode.


    The less common types or beasts are Celestial and Daemonic beasts. These beasts are more powerful than fell beasts, and can typically use two or three powers rather than the single power fell beasts can use. As a result, their cores are highly sought after, but the powerful beasts are extremely difficult to kill. Celestial and Daemonic beasts are both extremely proud races, and it is extremely rare that they will be willing to serve a human, or their allied races as a mount. The exception to this rule being the Draega race, which is basically a wolf with a unicorn horn. Celestial Beasts tend to be proud and dignified, not causing unneeded harm to individuals, or communities. Daemonic beasts are, on the other hand, proud and violent beasts that will destroy whole communities during their rampages.


    Dragon are a kind of beast that does not fit into either the Celestial, nor Daemonic categories, yet holds more than one power, so they do not fit into the category of fell beasts, yet they are commonly thought of as representative of this group. Their counterparts within the Celestial Beasts are the Celestial Qilin, and the Behemoth races.


    Beasts are not the only type of mosters, there are also humanoid monsters such as goblins, ogres, trolls, pixies, and the dreaded Asura race. These races cannot be played by players under normal circumstances, but are highly intelligent, and can be befriended by players, though the majority must be approached carefully.


    Goblins are quite hard to "tame", and are very much like the depictions in fantasy novels. They are uncouth, savage, and like to rape women without remorse.


    Trolls are rather blockheaded, but gentle giants, but one would be wise to avoid incurring their wrath as they are extremely strong, and quite tough.


    Pixies, the usual tiny humanoids with wings. They aren''t very strong, but their magic power is insanely strong.


    Ogres are a communal race that hold immense spiritual power. While the ogre race is, on the whole, quite strong, their intelligence is their strong point. The ogre race of Farside look like large green or red humanoids with additional animalistic features. They are powerful combatants, but generally keep to themselves without causing harm to the other races, unless provoked. There are some antagonistic Ogre trides, but on the whole they are not a race that tries to provoke others. Players of Farside have not succeeded in finding a way to unlock ogres as a playable race, so it has been considered a monster race as a result.


    As the Asura race is unique to Farside, and no races of the galaxy have eight arms, the race is completely unplayable as a player race. Due to their eight arms, they differ from the Old Earth depictions of the race, and their powers do as well. The Asura are not inherently evil, nor inherently good, but they have fierce, fiery tempers and powers. The majority of the Asura race are quite short tempered, and the race''s power is nothing to joke about, which has lead to people fearing them. There are two small subgroups of these Asura which either have innate ice powers and icy dispositions, or have nature & healing powers with a fairly gentle disposition, but these are seldom seen or heard of.


    Special Cases of Farside:


    There are two sub-races of Farside. These are, strictly speaking, not true races, but could be considered as the spirits augmenting the base race of a character. The Celestial-born and Daemon-born take on parts of the appearance, and strengths of rare celestial or daemonic beasts. It is said that the celestial-born or daemon-born sub-races are simply individuals blessed by a guardian spirit of the celestial or daemonic beasts, but this is unconfirmed. Celestial-born or daemon-born individuals tend to be rare, and are said to have only a 1 in 100,000 chance of being born. This does not make them unusual, but simply rare.


    Celestial-born are very rare individuals on Farside. Not much is known about these individuals, but legend states that the Celestial born are powerful combatants with superior ability, while being rather stable. On the other hand, Daemon-born are uncommon, but can be found quite frequently on Farside. These individuals are known for their power, but are even more known for their cruelty and their rampages.


    Popular descriptions for celestial-born are not well known, but they are said to be ethereal beings said to be full of righteousness. The daemon-born, on the other hand, are known for their demon-like appearance, and their cruel, selfish natures. As daemon-born are unstable, they tend to go on rampages that can even destroy entire kingdoms, so the people fear such individuals and will often kill them upon birth, before they can become a danger. Unfortunately, Siri has deemed it quite probable that many celestial-born have been killed while confusing them for daemon-born.


    This information came from ingame legends and tales told by players who played on Farside, but very little first-hand information was present. Any further information on these sub-races was unfortunately not available for Siri to compile.


    -----


    Information of the class titles, magic, and spirit powers were surprisingly scarce. Siri had been unable to find information on more than the most basic class titles and spells, and had been unable to find any information on spirit powers at all. This was very troubling for those going into the game, but there was not much that could be done. Even information on martial arts available on Farside was somewhat sketchy, and rather ambiguous.


    Information of races, classes, magic, spirit power, and technologies of other planets was quite plentiful, but when it came to Farside there was an overall lack of advanced or specific data available on the galactic network. This could be due to a number of factors, one being the lesser number of players on the planet, but the most likely reason for this would probably be players purposefully hiding information regarding these things. The players who chose Farside would obviously be affected by it''s culture, greed and distrust would be a common pair of factors in this case.


    -----


    Siri''s investigation into how the game capsules or pods worked didn''t reveal much information, and her conclusion was that Supercal had carefully concealed any information pertaining to the matter. All Siri could do using her original core''s capabilities was find a bunch of speculation on how they worked. The outer shells of Trinity''s pods were made of a mysterious form of matter that was impervious to all attempts to warp, cut, or otherwise break into the pods, as were the surface underneath the cushion the players laid on. Add to that the fact that the neck rest that was thought to how the interface used to actually play was similarly designed and the pods were completely impervious to all but Supercal''s main assembly plant, which no one knew the location of.


    The fact that Supercal could hide the location of this facility for as long as they had was extremely impressive. No matter the methods or techniques in which spies and investigators had tried to track down it''s whereabouts, the result was always the same. Despite trying to follow their ships to the factory with the most advanced stealth ships with the most advanced sensor equipment available, the ships were lost soon after leaving a system. No matter if they tried to follow the last known trajectory or not, the ships could not be found, and the trajectories would intersect with a nearby resort planet, and no amount of searching could find any Supercal facilities there or in any of the planets in the systems. Trying to slip spies onto the ships ended even more dismally, and not one successful individual was ever heard from again, nor was any tracking device signal ever spotted from those individuals.


    Trying to get to the information through legal firms also did no good. Supercal had never allowed anything untoward to happen to their players, and the company simply didn''t bother with their attempts to say that Supercal had some nefarious reason for not letting the information leak in order to get the information forcibly. Truthfully, Supercal''s lawyers were far better than even the republic''s finest lawyers, and were easily able to suppress such attempts. Political wrangling did no good either, as a large number of the senators are also Trinity players, and could absolutely appreciate their safety measures. In fact, there had been a number of attempts on the lives of senators while they were playing the game, and the pods had been their saving grace. The pods protected them from all forms of incoming attacks, but still allowed them to call for assistance from inside, thus giving them a way to secure their safety.


    All in all, Supercal''s methods could only be speculated, and never confirmed by those groups, even among the top brass of the republic the location of this facility was an enigma after all.


    -----


    Thraxc sat quietly at his desk looking over a report from one of his subordinates.


    "So nothing has changed recently," he stated while continuing to read.


    "Yes, Sir," that subordinate replied. "Although Supercal has been searching for someone recently, nothing else seems to have changed."


    "Oh? They''re looking for someone," Thraxc asked out of interest. "Tell me about it."


    "Yes, Sir. The information is in the report. While they appear to be looking for someone, we don''t have any details on whom that person might be," the woman replied.


    "Hmmmm, what page?"


    "Page thirteen, paragraph four, sub-paragraph B," she responded.


    "Hmmmmm," Thraxc flipped through the couple of pages needed to view the indicated page, found the indicated paragraph, and began reading. "Interesting," he replied after a moment, she had certainly summarized, but it was correct that there wasn''t much more information than she had stated. After a moment, he spoke once more, "continue observing the situation, and make certain those fools in the republic continue being unable to locate the old man''s main facility, we don''t want anyone getting any stupid ideas. I''ll finish reading the report and get back to you in the evening."


    "As you wish, Master Thraxc. Then I will be taking my leave," the woman replied, then exited the room.


    "So the old man still hasn''t recognized a successor," Thraxc muttered. "Well, not like it has anything to do with me though. All I have to do is continue ensuring that they aren''t found, and the rest is the old man''s business. I wonder how long it will be until his project is realized."


    There were very few people who had any real knowledge about Supercal, Thraxc was one of only three outside of the company who had any real knowledge of it''s scale, or the purposes behind it''s founding. In truth, Supercal was a company founded just after the first contact between Terrans, or humans, and the Galactic Republic. All records of it''s true purpose had long since been eradicated, and all that remained were almost forgotten provisions within the republic''s laws that stated that the Republic and it''s member nations could not in any way interfere with Supercal''s research, resources, or commercial practices, and that Supeercal could not use it''s technology to brainwash, murder, or enslave the citizens of the galaxy, nor could they have any designs on controlling the galaxy, or the Republic. These were provisions agreed upon by the old man, and the top brass of the Galactic Republic at the time of the bill''s implementation, and had not been violated by Supercal even once. Although the Republic hadn''t kept their side of the bargain in recent years, the old man continued to hold up his side of the bargain.


    Supercal''s research did not initially relate to their current game. The game came about as a result of a need for funds, and the old man used some of his unpublished technologies to create the game''s pods, servers, and the necessary communications and maintainence facilities to run and play the game. The crux of Supercal''s research lay in a large system designed around an old, archaic device of unknown origins.


    The Reality Engine, as the old man had dubbed it, a device designed to alter the very fabric of reality. The system the old man envisioned would not allow harm to already existing sentient beings due to The Reality Engine''s own alteration to reality. This did not mean that no harm would be possible from it, but it wouldn''t do any harm itself, and would even adapt existing sentient beings to the changed environment. How the system worked was not something Thraxc understood, nor the device that was the crux of the whole system, but that wasn''t something he needed to understand. Thraxc''s only responsibility in this whole thing was to ensure that Supercal''s main facilities were undiscovered by the agents of the various groups trying to find them, and that the research was undisturbed.


    The facility was hidden within the Cevredin Wasteland, a no man''s land within the certral part of the republic, a vast wasteland where the worlds were uninhabited by any sentient, or non-sentient life. The reason this location was chosen was to reduce damage to lifeforms in the immediate vicinity as much as possible. If a failure of the system were to occur, the old man''s research indicated that the damages would not exceed the exterior of this region of space. The system was designed to redirect the power of the reality engine, and control the reaction in order to not harm sentient beings within the area the engine would affect.


    The old man''s intent was not to use this device for war, but for humanitarian purposes. By altering reality, the almost extinguished resources of a planet could be replenished, and perhaps undo the need for war. This was the old man''s hope in working on that device, to help his people, and the other people of the galaxy to have abundant resources and habitable planets to grow without declaring war on each other. It may be a little naive, but he wished to use the device to remove such wars from existence.


    The results were difficult to accept, no matter what the old man tried, he had never successfully managed to target any specific planets in the area of space Supercal hid in. The system did manage to manipulate a few random planets near the center of the cluster, but that was it. They never could manage specifics, or outside a small cluster, although he had managed to restrict it from harming sentient beings, strangely enough. In the end, the system was designated as unfeasible, while Supercal gradually further developed their virtual reality game into their main enterprise. Few knew Trinity had such a long history, and even fewer still had any knowledge of the old man who started it all.


    Thraxc let out a sigh as he considered these things. It had been a long time since he had been so melancholy, it just wasn''t like him. "Well, nothing is going to happen if all I do is sit here sighing," he suddenly said. "Guess I''ll go pay the old man a visit." In the next instant Thraxc had vanished, without a trace.


    -----


    Andaros looked out the inner surface of the pod, sighing lightly. He had been doing that a lot, sighing, it was to the point that he wondered when, or if, he was going to be able to enjoy life again. The loss of his mother had hit him hard, and he hadn''t had much time to process that loss with everything that had been happening thusfar. In some ways he looked forward to, and in other ways he dreaded his first play of the game.


    The others would be entering the game via normal means since their pods did not include the special tutorial, and they would have a fairly basic tutorial. In his case however, he had to complete the special tutorial, as that was the one task Thraxc had insisted on for him. The platinum pod would allow the player to replay from just after initial character creation if the player so wished, but any progress they had made would be reset once more if they failed to finish the tutorial. Under normal circumstances, the player could choose to skip the tutorial if they did not successfully finish it, but Thraxc insisted that he complete the tutorial, and not take the shortcut, so no matter if he wanted to or not he would have to repeat it as many times as it took. This meant that he would have to catch up with the others should he fail to complete it in one go, and may take a very long time to do so in the event that he was unable to complete the tutorial in a small number of tries.


    Once they completed the first milestone at level 50, the group were supposed to meet up in the royal capital of the Kingdom of Cerdeva, Chreltos, so taking too long may also delay the other players in advancing further within the game. Falling behind would mean not only having to catch up in level, but also delaying the others in their leveling as Cerdeva was a known low level area in the game. It was also one of the few stable kingdoms as their natural resources were not too tempting to the big kingdoms surrounding them, and the kingdom had a large role to play within the politics of the area surrounding them. While it was not a powerhouse, the kingdom of Cerdeva was a diplomatic kingdom that often helped mediate conflicts between the large empires surrounding it. None of the empires would allow either each other, nor any other kingdom to conquer Cerdeva as it played a major role in settling their disputes, due to the nation''s kings all being gifted with wisdom since their birth. That was all he knew, other than th kingdom''s location on the Algaoan continent.


    Andaros didn''t know much about the special tutorial, and not many details were available about it, other than you earned a special prize for completing it. Information on the special tutorial was very carefully managed, and players were not allowed to give any details on it, under penalty of losing their account forever, and possible mysterious disappearance of the offender. This meant he was essentially going in blind, and would have to feel his own way through. The one thing that was absolutely known was that no two special tutorials would be the same, and the special tutorial could only be completed once per planet. Thus, it was best to complete the special tutorial in one go if at all possible, he only hoped the scenario wasn''t too difficult.


    Andaros had no desire to be famous, nor any desire to horde wealth, have great power, or dominate others, he simply wanted a peaceful life. He had no hope of being someone great, and only wanted to enjoy his time while playing the game. Little did he know, for here his life would take many twists and turns, and today would be the start of a legend that would one day shake the galaxy.


    Andaros let out a sigh once more, the closed his eyes.


    "Start up."

 Volume One: Chapter One - Login, Character Creaation.

    "New player detected," a female voice sounded out.


    I was standing inside a star field after activating my game pod for the first time. Trinity Online was a galactic sensation, one I''d never have dreamed I''d one day get the chance to play.


    Of course, if I had a choice in the matter, I''d choose never getting this chance over losing my mother, but at this time I had no choice in the matter. Thraxc had taken good care of me, but I''d give up the manor and everything in it in a heartbeat if it meant I wouldn''t be alone anymore. Sure, there were the others surrounding me, but it just wasn''t the same. The loss of the only family I had ever known was a heavy blow, one I would never wish on anyone. Don''t get me wrong, I wouldn''t trade the people now surrounding me for the world, but for my mother. . . Well, you get the idea.


    Anyway, the area I was now standing in was extremely realistic, and beautiful. Well, I guess it wasn''t "extremely" realistic as I could still breathe, but it certainly had a sense of realism.


    So this is what the character creation room looks like? I had heard it was different from the white room of those old VR game novels I read as a young kid, but this is more incredible than I thought.


    "Why thank you," as I was thinking, a female voice spoke in my ear.


    I was startled and jumped, before turning around to find three girls who looked to be my age standing there. A beautiful older girl, probably around 18 years old, black hair, with black dog''s ears shaped like the doberman''s that area still around to this day. A both cute, and beautiful girl 15-16 year old girl with a bountiful chest, and silvery grey hair, with dog''s ears and tails reminiscent of the Huskies I had once seen in the northern wilderness of my home planet, she had the most beautiful brown eyes. Finally, a cute 10-11 year old blond haired younger girl with a smiling childish face. I was sure what dog breed the third girl''s ears and tail belonged to, but that didn''t matter much, as I recognized this trio, the "Trinity Goddesses," as they were called.


    "H-h-h-hello."


    I stuttered out a greeting, which caused the older girl to frown.


    "Hold on a second," the girl who went by the name of Rino told me, "Let me see if I could find out the problem." Rino brought up a menu screen and began to fiddle around with it for a while, before letting out a sigh, "There''s nothing we can do about it," she told me with an apologetic tone. "It seems your neural pathways involving speech have some damage we cannot fix, even with the medical technology present within the platinum pods. I am truly sorry."


    {It''s fine, I''m used to it. Can you understand galactic sign language," I asked.


    "Yep, we can under stand you!" The cute younger girl, Luna called out happily.


    "Yes, we certainly understand you, Master Andaros," the third girl, Elga stated.


    {Why are you calling me master," I asked, truly not understanding why she would do such a thing toward someone like me.


    "Elga doesn''t usually address players like this, but it''s different for her son," Rino replied.


    Eh? {Her son? You knew my mother,} I asked, a little dazed.


    "We certainly knew both your father and mother," Rino replied, "but don''t think that entitles you to any special privileges. You will be treated like any other player, whether or not you are her son." Her tone was rather flat as she spoke, but sounded a bit mad for some reason.


    "Can''t we give him one concession, Onee-chan," Luna asked, seemingly about to break into tears, "After all, he is her son."


    "Oh very well, but only one, and it can''t go against the rules father has set," Rino replied after looking at her sister. "What should we give him then Elga?"


    "First, let''s get basic character creation started," Elga answered. "We can choose a more appropriate concession that way."


    {Um, what''s going on,} I asked in confusion.


    "We can talk about that once you choose your starter planet," Rino replied, seemingly annoyed, but somehow I got the feeling she wasn''t truly mad, and was just trying to avoid uncomfortable questions. Rino blushed as the thought crossed my mind. "Anyway, just choose a starter planet from the list."


    {F-a-r-s-i-d-e,} I indicated.


    "Are you certain," Elga asked in a bit of a worried tone.


    {Yes, I do not have a choice, it is the only remaining special tutorial, and I was instructed to take it,} I answered.


    "But. . ."


    "Elga, we have to honor his decision," Rino told her sternly.


    "But, but, we can''t give him our blessings there," Elga said, with worry evident in her tone.


    "He''s a platinum lifetime account holder. He''ll already have a number of bonuses as a result of that," Rino explained, "You shouldn''t forget that starting on Farside as a platinum account will give him immediate access to the celestial realm by default."


    "But. . . but, that place is dangerous," Elga stated, her face showing more worry.


    "He may not be able to fight anything there as a starter player, but nothing there will be able to attack him either," Rino explained. "The most they can do is give him some bad gifts, or snub him. We can watch over him, and make sure it''s nothing too disadvantageous."


    "We can''t do that, you know father won''t allow us to do as we please on Farside," Elga whined at her.


    "Why don''t we just give him an item as a gift for the concession," Luna asked with a tilt of her head, it looked insanely cute.


    While I watched the three discuss things, I couldn''t help but wonder what I had ever done to earn such consideration from these three A.I. I had just met. It didn''t make sense to me, so I interrupted them.


    "E-e-e-excuse m-m-m-me."


    """Yes?"""


    "What is it, we''re discussing something important here," Rino asked in a tone that allowed no argument.


    {I don''t need a special gift,} I told them. {Also, what is your relation to my mother?}


    "Well too bad, you''re getting a gift, and you have no choice in the matter," Rino answered me unhappily.


    "Your mother was the one who initially raised us," Elga explained to me, "so we owe her a gift of gratitude."


    {I thought you were all very old? How could my mother have raised you,} I asked, being confused. Even from my knowledge they were at least 2,000 years old.


    "Your mother was put into cryo-stasis shortly after we matured," Rino explained in an impatient manner. "Around 25 years ago a problem occurred with her cryo-stasis pod and the staff had to perform and emergency awakening on her."


    "During the awakening her brain received some trauma, and a large portion of her memory was lost, including her memories of us," Elga explained in melancholy. "So father had to help her learn a lot of things all over again. Shortly after, she met your father, and they moved away to a small, relatively peaceful planet."


    "Before the memory loss, your mother was a brilliant scientist who was not only responsible for raising us, but was the reason for our very existence, so we owe her a great debt," Rino explained to me, "not only as our creator, but also as our mother."


    "So that makes us brother and sisters," Luna told me happily.


    "That''s why we want to do something for you," Elga finished. "We can''t do much, but we can give you something special, as long as it won''t give you too much of an advantage."


    {Won''t you get in trouble for this,} I couldn''t help but ask.


    "Platinum Lifetime accounts originally have a great number of bonuses anyway, so a single extra bonus likely won''t be noticed by the player population," Rino explained. "Basically, if you don''t let anyone know, they likely won''t realize, and if they do you can explain that you''re a platinum lifetime account holder. There are no other such users at this time, so they won''t know the extent of the benefits such an account will give. The information only says certain things, and the last part says, "and various other bonuses," so they''ll be none the wiser."


    "Luna, can you put together three items for him to choose from? They need to be able to be hidden in the reservoirs of a Farside player, and they can''t be too powerful in and of themselves."


    "Nee-chan, why don''t we just give him some spirits!"


    "No, players have to earn those," Rino answered. "We can, at best, give him some items that have to potential to develop a device spirit in the future. At that time they could become his spirits."


    "Aren''t such items always powerful," Elga asked.


    "Not all," Luna cried out excitedly, " have a few that would work! Playing on Farside is fun!"


    *Bam!* "Luna, don''t go causing trouble for the players and citizens of Farside," Rino scolded her after her fist descended onto the top of her head.


    "OOOO, my head," Luna whined as I stood there watching on while completely stunned by their behavior. "I haven''t been Rino-nee! I made a normal character, and have been playing on Farside with it. I haven''t used any cheats at all!"


    Rino sighed heavily upon hearing this. "If the spirits hear that you''ve been playing there, they''ll report to father and you''ll get punished."


    "They already know! I got their permission first," Luna explained. "They set an overseer to make sure I don''t cheat, but that''s all it took. I earned the items I''m going to give him myself."


    "Wait a second," Elga tried to stop her, "we were only going to give him one item!"


    "Too bad, I already set them as artifact spirits," Luna cried out.


    "Eh?! You did what?!"


    I could swear I saw Rino''s eyes flash with fire as her hand came crashing down on her head, then a terrific explosion blasted outward. I was blasted away, and then everything turned black for a long while before I could suddenly see. At this point, the girls all tackled me, crying.


    "I''m sorry Andaros Onii-chan! It''s all Luna''s fault," Luna cried.


    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry, I''m sorry," Rino cried while tears rolled down her face. I think it was kind like when a tsun goes dere, but not a lovey-dovey boyfriend type, though I''m not too sure if that''s the right description.


    Elga, on the other hand, kept crying, "You''re okay, you''re okay, thank God you''re okay."


    It was a very surreal scene as I sat there with three beautiful girls crying over me. I couldn''t move my hands, so I could only helplessly say, "Wh-wh-wh-what h-h-h-happened," which only served to put the girls into another crying fit.


    After a while, Elga explained, "When Rino hit Luna, she accidentally activated her power, and it killed your not fully made avatar. Under such circumstances, it can actually kill the player in the real world. That''s, that''s why *hick* we were crying. We almost killed you!"


    After Elga said this, the three girls broke down once again, and I could only helplessly sit there and pat their backs while trying to calm them down. Seriously,why did God stick me with this stupid stuttering issue? It''s such an inconvenience. I wanted to comfort them by saying something, but I gave up when the words just wouldn''t come out. I could only comfort them by patting their backs and heads.


    I had to wait until they calmed down before I could tell them, {I am fine, so it''s alright, but this area should have protections so that such a thing does not happen should it not?}


    "We, we disabled them so that we could come speak with you," Elga said with more than a hint of guilt, "otherwise we may have been caught."


    {You should not worry about it, but please, do not do something like that without properly putting in safeguards so that it does not happen again,} I told them. It was tedious saying all this in sign language, but I had gotten a bit used to it by now.


    "We will keep that in mind," Rino replied, sighing heavily. "Once more, I am sorry for what occurred."


    I smiled and patted her head. It was somewhat surreal patting the head of a girl who looked to be a few years older than me, but I didn''t say anything as she seemed to like the attention.


    *Ding*


    For surviving death before your character had been fully created, you have been awarded an achievement title: Miracle Child.


    Achievement Title: Miracle Child. You are a living miracle who has survived an almost impossible situation. You will be able to face any situation that comes your way, knowing that you can bring about miracles.


    Bonuses:


    15% chance to instantly recover from all ailments and diseases.


    1% chance of a miracle occurring, increasing the effects of any attack, defense, or support abilities by up to 500%, in addition to activating hidden effects.


    .000001% chance of gaining abilities not normally available at your level, to your character, or only available to characters with certain class titles. This effect requires performing the proper actions to receive the intended ability or abilities.


    10% chance on level up to give 10 points to each of the four base stats in addition to regular stat boosts.


    10% chance of instantly resurrecting with full status upon death. If this effect triggers, conditions where death immediately fails a event or quest will not trigger failure.


    50% reduction in resurrection time.


    Earning stat points from actions is easier.


    I was a bit shocked by the bonus I had just received, and it must have shown on my face.


    "What happened Master Andaros," Elga asked me with a face that screamed, "What is going on?"


    {I just got a t-i-t-l-e,} I replied, spelling out title since I didn''t know the shorthand for it.


    "It''s {title}," Rino showed me the correct word. "So, what is this title? Luna, did you do something?"


    "No, Onee-chan, I didn''t give any titles," Luna responded, and turned to look at me, "What''s the title Onii-chan?"


    {M-i-r-a-c-l-e C-h-i-l-d,} I answered, again coming across words I wasn''t knowledgable in how to sign.


    "It''s  {Miracle} and {Child}," Rino once again explained to me in a somewhat angry sounding tone, understanding that I didn''t know how to sign them, and showing me. Some might have considered it rude, but I was used to such a gruff manner of speaking, and could see her kindness. Besides that, after seeing her cry over almost killing me earlier, I would have realized she was quite a caring girl even if I didn''t have such a gruff mother.


    "So, what does this title do," Elga asked, seeming to know what I meant by title.


    {Is there a way to show you?}


    "Yep! Just sign {show new title to the goddesses}," Luna explained. "The system will recognize it on it''s own, and do it''s thingy."


    I did as instructed, and the three were quite surprised.


    "That''s quite the title," Rino finally said after a few moments of staring. The other two nodded as they continued staring blankly at the window. "I never knew father put such a title into the system. It''s quite surprising."


    "Yeah, you might say that title is worth almost dying for," Elga said mechanically, it seemed she hadn''t recovered from the initial shock yet.


    {That is way too much,} I told her, looking at the achievement title again.


    "I''d have to agree, not to mention whatever items Luna set as spirits for you," Rino stated wryly. "She shouldn''t have set them as actual spirits."


    "It''s okay, because I got permission from the spirits first," Luna told us with a big grin. "In the first place, they all start out weak and grow with the player by taking some of his experience and cultivation as he levels up, so they''ll slow his leveling, but they''ll provide him with power in exchange. The spirits said they won''t be usable until spirit awakening when his character reaches 10 years old anyway."


    Rino sighed heavily, then looked at me as if she were judging something about me. It actually made me pretty nervous, so I almost backed away but manage to keep myself from doing so. She then nodded for some reason.


    "Fine, I''ll gift him with something myself," Rino said, looking at me appraisingly.


    The next moment, Rino started to glow, and then I felt a power that was domineering enter into me, it almost made me pass out. Thankfully that didn''t happen, but I almost did so before the power withdrew.


    "It''s done, you''ll be able to use twice the ability slots for celestial-born or daemon-born bonuses," Rino said. "Be careful, because this also means you can gain twice the negative status bonuses as well, so be cautious of any "blessings of the spirits" you accept."


    I would later come to regret not following this advice properly, though something good did eventually come out of it.


    "I also wish to give you a gift," Elga told me, "but I don''t know what I can give you that is within the bounds of what I could safely gift. Do you have any requests?"


    {Um, as you can tell, my stuttering is an issue, so I would actually prefer if you could make me mute, so I do not have to deal with it anymore,} I answered her. This decision wasn''t difficult for me to make, but would also come to trouble me quite a bit during the tutorial.


    "It''s possible to make you mute, but are you unable to sing normally?"


    {I can sing normally,} I told her, then began to sing a song. The three seemed moved by the performance, as they listened attentively and were smiling.


    "It would be a shame to take away your singing," Elga finally said after I finished singing.


    {I can''t really sing-song though, for some reason any time I try I end up stuttering anyway.}


    "It''s probably the way in which your brain processes the sing-song voice," Rino explained, "It seems like it tries to process it using both the regular vocal pathways, and the singing pathways, so it doesn''t work correctly. If we block off the vocal pathways, it will likely block that style of vocals as well as regular vocals, so only true singing will likely work. Elga, can you give him a magical effect any time he sings, so that it won''t be suspicious?"


    "I think so, and maybe he can learn to use his singing to unleash magic, though I''m not to sure about that," Elga answered, she then fiddled with some settings. "Okay, try singing now."


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    As I sung, it generated a strange atmosphere that I can''t describe, it was certainly intriguing.


    "What was that? Isn''t that too much of an effect Elga," Rino asked harshly.


    "Well, you both gave him such great gifts, and he only asked me to make him mute," Elga explained, "So I gave Master Andaros an extra bonus."


    "It''s okay Onee-chan, Onii-chan was really cool, and it matches his personality," Luna happily said.


    Oi, don''t go deciding things yourself.


    "Well, that''s true, I guess, it was just such a strong effect it surprised me," Rino explained.


    "Well, now that we''re done with the gifts, why don''t we proceed with Master''s character making," Elga suggested.


    "True, giving him gifts is all well and good, but it won''t do him any good if we don''t finish setting up his character." Rino agreed. "So, let''s roll to see if he gets any special race unlocks. Here we go."


    ". . . Eh, Angaellis, and Daemonis both showed up? I''ve never seen these two appear together," Elga was completely surprised at this.


    In front of me appeared a number of different versions of myself, representing the different races. It was quite awe inspiring to see that many versions of myself standing in the star filled background.


    "So which will you choose Onii-chan?!"


    {Is it possible to make a character that is a half-breed?}


    "Hmmm, it shouldn''t be too troublesome," Rino answered, "Luna, can you get permission from the spirits of Farside?"


    "Just a moment. . . Yes, they say it''s alright, but there may be some side effects depending on the race combination," Luna explained after a moment. "They seemed to think the Angaellis/Daemonis hybrid would be an amusing combination."


    {Is it alright for me to do that combination?}


    "Hybrid races are subjected to a roll, in which the racial bonuses are randomized," Rino told me. "The problem is that you may get some or all of the bonuses, or you may get all the deficiencies of the two races. Do you still wish to choose this hybrid combination?"


    {. . . Yes.}


    Seriously, that warning made the hairs on my neck raise up, but if I did get a good set of bonuses it wouldn''t be bad at all. In fact, it would be just the opposite, even if I got half bonuses and half negatives I wouldn''t have a problem with that. I often played old games that my mother and I refurbished when I was younger, and often the most enjoyable games were the ones where you had a few negatives to go with the positive statuses your character had. It wasn''t challenging to always get the best things, and that took away the enjoyment from the game for me. On the contrary, difficult games were fun, and the sense of fulfillment was much greater than beating an easy game.


    "Alright, your stats will undergo a random roll as well, and will normally fall in between the two races'' set stat ranges, but sometimes may end up with stats that are far higher than normal, or far lower. This also applies to basic resistances, is this okay?"


    Rino''s tone was stern as she spoke to me, and she watched me carefully. I couldn''t care less, and just nodded my head to answer her in the affirmative. Seeing this, she let out a huge sigh.


    "Well, sometimes hybrids turn out to be special, or a completely new race with their own traits, so it''s not all bad," Elga said to her.


    "I suppose so, you better not regret it," Rino replied, eyeing me. "We won''t help you change it if it ends up bad you know"


    {A man sticks by his decisions, and even if I do regret, it is my own decision. I have to deal with it if that time comes,} I told her resolutely. {Of course, if my decision is wrong and troubles my friends and family too much, it is upon me to admit that mistake and apologize as well.}


    "That''s so old fashioned."


    {Well, it is what my mother taught me,} I answered  as firmly as i could considering I was using my hands to do so, and fumbled a lot. {She also taught me to make important decisions only if I could afford to regret them.}


    "What if you can''t afford to regret not making a decision?"


    {I''ll cross that bridge when I get there.}


    "Alright, alright, let''s not question his decision anymore Rino-nee," Luna interrupted us. "We should try the combination and see what happens!"


    "Fine, initiating hybrid race combination," Rino stated, looking none too thrilled. ". . . Eh?"


    "What is it Rino-nee?"


    "I don''t believe it, he got maximum stats and all the good bonus traits, plus the skills from each of the two races." She continued to look over it, and finally added, "It seems the skills will need to be unlocked, while the traits are active immediately upon racial transfer. Initiating racial transfer."


    Racial transfer, a process in which one changes races. The transfer process only occurs from the original race of the player to a character race, and after that can only be gained from completing racial quests to unlock a currently unavailable race for new players. If I remember correctly, those were the only two times the process could be initiated, and the first is activated by the helper A.I. during character creation.


    "Alright, race change started, no special race. There should be a menu appearing in front of you that will allow you to  set your character''s looks," Rino informed me, and I did indeed see such a screen.


    "If you need, you can just sign to us the changes you would like, and we can make the adjustments," Elga added. "Normally you would be able to do this yourself, but the system for this hasn''t had an overhaul for sign language recognition, so it can only be used by touching the buttons under normal circumstances. If you need, however, we can make the adjustments for you."


    An avatar floated in front of me, and I had to admit it was pretty terrifying. I can understand why people are always afraid of me after seeing this once again. My mother never hated my looks, and even praised them, but I can''t really do so when looking at them objectively.


    {Can you maybe soften up my features so that I do not look so terrifying,} I asked.


    "Like this," Elga asked, making some quick adjustments.


    My face went from devilish to only debonair, and my eyes went from harsh and glaring to somewhat sharp, by not angry looking. They became less slanted, as well as my eyebrows. My smaller pupils were then enlarged, and my light sensitivity was adjusted by making my eyes look much like dragons. It was just like the Daemonis eyes, but it didn''t seem normal. My confusion must have shown.


    "In the options that appeared, this double-pupil eyes appeared," Elga explained. "I thought it looked cool, so I thought I''d let you see it and decide whether you''d like it or not."


    Looking at it carefully, it did look like there were two sets of pupils, a regular and slightly darker one within the slit-like daemonis pupil. To be honest, it really did look pretty cool, and the inner pupils somewhat matched my original pupils, though they were a bit larger even so.


    "Is it not okay," Elga asked with a worried look.


    {No, it should be fine,} I told her, {but will it always be like that? It could be difficult to explain if it is.}


    "Unfortunately," Elga replied with downcast eyes. "We can''t make anymore arbitrary changes, or we''ll anger the spirits, and father."


    {What do you two think about these eyes?}


    "I like it!"


    "They''re not that bad, even if they look a little strange," Rino replied. "I don''t think most people will even realize that you have double-pupiled eyes. Plus, they''re likely to come with hidden bonuses, since they were a rather difficult to find option in the list. According to the description here, they can only be gained by those who gain all the positive traits of their parent races."


    {So, unusual. . .}


    "Yeah, but they look really cool!"


    {Alright, alright, since Luna really likes them, and you both suggest them, I''ll take this look.}


    I knew when I was beat, and Rino was probably right about this, as one of the goddesses.


    "Alright, permanently setting character looks."


    As soon as the changes were made, the character avatars in front of me disappeared, and a mirror appeared in front of me, letting me look at my new looks, but first I had to deal with the side effects of these new eyes. I could see light outside the normal light range for humans, which really caught me off guard for a few moments. It gave me a bit of a headache at first. After I could get used to it, I saw that I looked just like the avatar, Like myself, but silvery-white hair and steely grey eyes.


    "Hmmm, your eyes look a bit different, and that hair too. I wonder what''s up with that," Rino said, looking genuinely confused.


    "It changed," Elga stated. "I wonder if system-chan made some changes. I''m sorry, Master Andaros."


    {It''s fine, I think it looks pretty cool,} I replied, I really did too. {By the way, is it alright for you three to be here together? Isn''t there some kind of rivalry between factions, or something?}


    "That''s not something we participate in," Rino began explaining. "Strictly speaking, we''re just the representatives of the creator of the universe. We pretty much just oversee everything, and make sure no huge problems occur. Each planet has their own deities, and they fight over followers and such, but as goddesses we have nothing to do with that. We are responsible for the random blessings characters get that are not linked to some kind of deity, but otherwise we mainly oversee the main system and ensure it doesn''t do anything too drastic, or that no one can hack the system. We''re still doing that even while we talk with you and help you setup your character."


    {There''s no problem?}


    "No, but stopping with your character creation could cause one. So, we''ll see it through to the end," Elga answered.


    "We had to see our little bro!"


    Luna is too cute, but she seriously didn''t seem to realize that she looks younger than me. Oh well, she''s cute, so it''s fine. . . I feel like some kind of idiot character who would suddenly shout, "CUTENESS IS JUSTICE," after saying that line, damn it. I''m not a loli-con, so I''m not gonna go there, but. . . Anyway, she certainly is cute. Strictly speaking, so are both of the older two, but their beauty outweighs their cuteness.


    "Anyway, on to the next step," Rino stated. "There''s only one location for Angaellis or Daemonis to start on Farside, The Queendom of Avelynn on The Veiled Isle, so you''ll be starting there after you visit the celestial realm and finalize your bestial features. That means your character name is next. You''ll receive a random family name based on the family you are born into within the game, but your personal name is yours to choose."


    {Then. . . Z-e-f,} I responded after a bit of thought. It was simple, and would be easy to remember when the others eventually joined me.


    "Alright, it''s set!"


    "Just so you know, the special tutorial is a bit different from normal character growth," Rino informed me. "Normally when a character starts, they watch their character grow from the outside, and only see important parts of their system-generated backstory. The special tutorial, on the other hand, plays through the entire period of growing up, and you make the decisions that lead to your backstory."


    "In other words, you''ll have to grow up once again," Elga added.


    "Yes. You''ll have to be careful however, as the special tutorial has important events that you must pass in order to complete it, and if you fail it will mean starting all over again from the beginning with a new backstory to face," Rino explained. "Not even once will you face the same set of circumstances, and if you fail too miserably the system may even take you completely out of the tutorial and just randomly drop you somewhere on Farside."


    "Your character will be fully set once you finish deciding your bestial features in the celestial realm, so you won''t have to worry about redoing that part, but once those features are set you also can''t reset them. A point used is a point that can''t be regained, so be careful about the beasts you let give you features," Rino warned once again.


    "You have two remaining checkpoints in finalizing your character, the Celestial Realm, and the Special Tutorial. The stats and levels you gain in the special tutorial will be reset upon completion of the tutorial. It is possible that your decisions within the special tutorial may lead to a new class title being created, unique traits and skills being created or unlocked, as well as possible unique weapons you wouldn''t normally gain being either created of obtained there. Regardless of these things, your performance within the special tutorial will absolutely affect bonuses to stat growth during level up once you enter the main game."


    "It can even affect experience or stat gain, so be careful," Elga advised seriously.


    "Oh yeah, Onii-chan, since you''ll be mute, I''ll give you some advice! Normally vocal recitation is required for spells on Farside, but there are other ways to activate spells, and even ways to make yourself heard! Even if you don''t have the singing, you can find other ways to communicate besides sign language!"


    Luna advised me cutely, and the other two seemed a bit surprised, but after a moment of thought nodded their heads.


    {Okay, I''ll remember,} I replied. {Was there anything else I needed to do here?}


    "Other than giving us hugs before we say goodbye, no," Elga answered, smiling.


    I gave the three hugs, and then took my first steps toward a brave new world. A world that would tax me to the limit, but I would eventually call home.


    ------


    After Andaros disappeared from the character creation room, three girls stood staring at the spot for a few moments.


    "Well, he''s gone," Rino stated. "By the way Luna, what was with that cutesy act, it was totally not like you."


    "Koraaa! What are you saying," Luna answered like some kind of two-bit hoodlum from a Japanese anime. "I am cute! Besides, I wanted to make a good impression on Andaros Onii-san."


    "That attitude totally doesn''t match you. And why didn''t I get more time to talk to him," Elga said in a whiney tone. "I had a lot less lines than you two!"


    "Hey! It totally matches me, and you didn''t have to act all gentle and older-sister like! You could have just been your usual complainer self!"


    "Alright you two, don''t start fighting," Rino tried to break in between the two of them with a gentle tone and look that was unlike the ice-queen look she had while they met with Andaros.


    "Shut up! Don''t try to butt into our argument! What was with that whole ice-queen act around him anyway!"


    "I, I just wanted to look cool for him," Rino stammered out.


    The three goddesses of Trinity Online broke into an argument once the boy they had come to meet had disappeared. The three didn''t even act like the characters they were designed after. Elga started whining, and complaining, Rino became rather demure and had a hard time asserting herself, and Luna was acting like an outright thug. In a word, it was chaos, complete and utter chaos. That is, until someone stepped into the open, seemingly from out of nowhere.


    "What are you girls doing?"


    A chill ran down each of the three girls spines as they mechanically turned their faces toward the woman, and looks of intense fear flashed across their faces.


    "Seriously, making a mess of things, and almost killing my precious Andaros, do you three want me to beat you within an inch of your lives," the beauty asked them. "Also, while you three were off here playing with Andaros there were 6 attempts to hack the system, which, I might add, I had to deal with in your absence. So, GET BACK TO WORK! And return this character creation room to it''s proper place."


    "Yes Mother," the three Goddesses that were the proud representatives of Trinity Online answered meekly and disappeared, along with the character creation room.


    "Seriously, they''re such a handful," the woman stated while standing amongst the stars with an amused grin after they had left. She then stared off at the distant star system where Andaros would eventually grow up once again. "He''s changed so much in this short time. He became stronger, yet more fragile. I''m glad father arrived in time to upload my consciousness, but it''s hard to not be able to do anything for my precious son. Well, I suppose I''ll be watching over his progress in his life within Trinity at the least, it''s just too bad the spirits won''t let me do anything for him over there."


    That''s right, the woman was Andaros''s beloved mother, whom he thought lost forever. The real creator of Trinity Online.


    Saying only so much, she looked through a window while shaking her head.


    "Seriously though, those three couldn''t even hold back one tiny bit from pampering him. I mean, what''s with Luna? Giving him three mythical tier artifacts as spirits is a bit too much, even if they''re rather lower gear for their tier. That belt in particular. . . Well, it''s not that bad in itself, but if I hadn''t made certain he''d have high summoning proficiency it would have gone to waste. As for Rino, she almost killed him, but in the end he received two ridiculous gifts from her. But. . . The most ridiculous gift actually came from that lazy, whiney girl. . . I don''t know what to think about that. Well, I can''t say too much though with those gifts I snuck in, though. Oh well, I hope he likes the gifts I gave him, and the gift in store in the tutorial. he''d better not miss that girl, or I''ma beat him. Too bad I can''t do it in person. . ."


    Having said that, she stood there watching a far off star while memories flooded through her.


    "Well, I suppose I can do one last thing for him," she said, and then disappeared to that distant star.


    --------


    "Where am I? . . ."

 Volume One: Chapter Two - The City in the Celestial Realm.

    The Celestial Realm is an area of Farside usually reserved for high leveled characters to gain Celestial-born or Daemon-born forms. It was originally a peaceful realm with plenty of beasts that were even willing to make friendships with the people of the alliance if they were polite enough, but no longer. The Celestial Realm had become a place of violence, where alliance members were attacked on sight. Typically, alliance members who come here carve a bloody path through the realm in order to forcibly take the powers of these beasts, causing the inhabitants of the realm to turn hostile. Thus, the Celestial Realm had turned into a hellish place where only well equipped, large-scale parties dared to set foot.


    --------


    During the transfer, I somehow closed my eyes, and when I opened them once again I saw and incredible sight. Standing atop a hill, I was stunned by the scenery.


    Sprawled out before me was an ancient city that looked to be long abandoned, yet the buildings were still in fairly good condition. Beyond the dilapidated buildings stood a might forest with gigantic trees akin to a sequoia at the smallest. These trees were not restricted to coniferous trees, and the truly huge trees seemed to be a mix of both coniferous and deciduous trees standing tall above that forest. Mighty rivers flowed through the forest, looking like trickling streams amongst those massive trees, while the sounds of myriad beasts could be heard coming out of that primordial forest. Towering mountains rose to the left of the forest, to the North according to the map, while rolling plains could be seen to the south, with herds of many strange beasts wandering them. On the far side of the forest, an azure ocean of restless waves crashed against the shore.


    The most stunning thing of all was a single tree that towered above the forest, greatly dwarfing it. It was as wide as a small mountain, and shot up into the sky, towering to a similar height to those mountains to the north. It''s leaves were like gigantic crystals, and the light easily came through, and down to the trees below. The leaves changed the direction of the light passing through them, and seemed to evenly distribute the light to the forest below. The tree was surrounded by a large lake, that was likely the size of a sea, and acted as a sort of natural moat.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations on accessing your Platinum account Zef, A.K.A. Andaros. Due to the features of your platinum account, you have gained early access to the Celestial Realm of Farside. In this place can be found a myriad of Celestial and Daemonic beasts which can grant you their powers. Under normal circumstances, you would likely immediately die upon entering this realm due to your low level, but fret not, you have the protection of the spirits. Until you have acquired a full set of celestial and daemonic beast features, you will be protected, and upon acquiring a full set you will be transfered out of the Celestial Realm in order to be born.


    You must be careful about what beasts you accept features from, as many of the beasts in the Celestial Realm hate those of the alliance races, and while they may not be able to physically harm you they may give you worthless or detrimental features in order to let out their hate. Not all beasts will do something like this, and some may simply refuse to help you, or require some dangerous quest in order to gain a specific ability, so take heart. Nothing is impossible if you just have faith and try your best.


    Have fun searching for abilities, and do your best.


    P.S. While in the Celestial Realm during this early access, you will be unable to gain experience.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    A new quest has been received: Gather Bestial Features!


    You must acquire sufficient beast features to create your celestial-born or daemon-born modifications. Try your best!


    0/32 bestial features attained.


    Quest Type: Mandatory


    Special Rules:


    No experience will be earned while this quest is underway.


    Any experience gained from sub-quests may or may not be applied toward a permanent experience boost upon completion of the quest.


    Hunger and Thirst disabled during this quest.


    Infinite Health, Stamina, and Vitality during this quest.


    Unable to be attacked during this quest.


    As the player character is mute, the player will be able to communicate telepathically with the beasts during the duration of this quest


    Character age will be set to the player''s real age for the duration of this quest


    Rewards:


    Bestial features finalized


    Celestial-born or Daemon-born status gained


    special trait based on the combined features gained


    possible special skills based on race features gained


    Unlock of one random racial feature.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I couldn''t have imagined that I would have so many points or slots to go toward the bestial features, but Rino did warn me to be careful about whom I accept powers from, so that part matches up. I also could not have imagined at this time how much my choice bestial features and my final form would affect not only my time in the special tutorial, but my life throughout the time I played on Farside, and long after.


    Hmmmmm, what was that command?


    ''Character Menu,'' I finally thought after remembering the command.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Character Menu


    Character Information:


    Name: Zef


    Race: Angaellis/Daemonis Hybrid


    Sub-Race: Currently Pending


    Sex: Male


    Age: N/A (Note: Character age currently not available as character has not been formally finalized and born.)


    Level: 0 (Character formation/tutorial)


    Cultivation Levels: N/A (Reservoirs finalized at age 10)


    Reservoir Capacity: N/A (Available once reservoirs finalize their initial growth)


    Health: 100/100


    Mana: 10/10


    Psi: 10/10


    Stamina: Infinite (Will change once Celestial Realm has been left)


    Vitality: Infinite (Will change once Celestial Realm has been left)


    Stats:


    Body: 10 (Focus - None)


    Mind: 25 (Focus - None)


    Psion: 25 (Focus - None)


    Lucky Blessing: 100


    Benevolence: 0


    Cruelty: 0


    Note: Benevolence and Cruelty only applicable to Celestial Realm. These stats will decide whether you are a Celestial-born or a Daemon-born. The stats are based on the number of bestial features gained from Celestial or Daemonic beasts. If a balance is struck, a new kind of sub-race will be born upon finalization of features.


    Titles:


    Class Titles: Main: None


    Secondary: None


    Tertiary: None


    Crafting: None


    Political Title: None


    Achievement Titles(Maximum of 4 set titles):


    Miracle Child


    None


    None


    None


    Traits:


    Angaellis/Daemonis Hybrid (Best Possible)


    Magic Eyes


    Mystical Voice


    Mute - standard speech & sing-song


    Untapped Potential (Upgradable):


    Unknown


    Unknown


    Unknown


    Unknown


    Unknown


    Unknown


    Bestial Features: Currently None


    Equipment Information:


    Equipped Items:


    Head: None


    Neck: None


    Shoulders: None


    Upper-Right Arm: None


    Upper-Left Arm: None


    Lower-Right Arm: None


    Lower-Left Arm: None


    Right Wrist: None


    Left Wrist: None


    Right Hand: None


    Left Hand: None


    Fingers: None (10 fingers based on race)


    Chest: Standard Shirt (No protection)


    Back: None


    Waist: None


    Legs: Standard Pants (No protection)


    Lower-Right Leg: None


    Lower-Left Leg: None


    Right Ankle: None


    Left Ankle: None


    Right Foot: None (2 slots)


    Left Foot: None (2 slots)


    Weapon(s): None


    Shield: None


    Over-Armor: N/A


    Additional Equipment: None


    Skills:


    Language Comprehension:


    Farside Beast Language (Vocal and mental only language)


    Allies/Party: N/A (Unlocks at age 5 )


    Guild: N/A (Guilds unlock at level 15)


    Faction Standings: N/A</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I looked over the window, and looked through the windows carefully. There were a few things I didn''t understand, like why the game separately equipment by arm, such as right upper-arm, and left upper-arm. Why didn''t it just say vambraces and then have a space for left and right. The same could be said for bracers, gloves, boots, and greaves? Also, why were there a lot less parts to armor and equipment than in a set of medieval armor from old earth that I read about in an old book? Another thing that threw me off was why the shoulders were one unit rather than two, since there would definitely be the odd-balls who would want to where only one shoulder pad and go for the ancient Old Earth Roman gladiator look.


    As I thought of these things, the menu morphed, and the arm and leg armors switched into the simpler menu display I was thinking of, and the shoulders were actually split into right and left in the same format as the new one the other armors shared. I was amazed that the menu system could adjust itself to my thoughts, but I left it at that, this would be much easier to understand anyway.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    Congratulations, you have inspired a change to the current menu system! Count yourself lucky punk, you get a nice little bonus!


    Bonus attained:


    New quest open


    Potential skill or trait unlock


    New quest received: The Unknown


    To defeat this sub-quest is not simple. . .


    You don''t do right, I''mma beat you


    You do right, I''mma beat you


    You don''t win, I''mma beat you


    You win, I''mma beat you


    You stay alive, I''mma beat you


    You die, I''mma beat you


    Any way you look at it, I''mma beat you


    You don''t recognize me, I''mma beat you


    You recognize me, I''ll reward you.


    Quest Reward:


    Unique skill unlock tailored to player character.


    Unique trait unlock tailored to player character.


    Quest loss punishment:


    Beat to hell and back</td></tr></tbody></table>


    What the hell, anyway I''ll get beat?


    This quest didn''t leave any way out, and it didn''t explain anything, so it left me feeling aggrieved. Really, couldn''t it explain anything, or even leave a way out of receiving beating? I couldn''t figure out who would be so sadistic as to create such a quest where the only option is a beating, and then reward it for inspiring a change to the system.


    Wait, I recognize this kind of speech, why does it sound like my mom?


    My mother was always saying that every time someone would do something wrong. It was like a catch-phrase for her. Any time she was angry she''d yell it. Of course, I never once saw her do it, but I also never tried to get on her bad side and earn a beating either. I really loved my mother, and wouldn''t purposely do anything she wouldn''t like. I might get in trouble for bringing trouble upon myself with my appearance, but that wasn''t something I had control over. Still, I couldn''t understand what was with this quest, was that my mother the quest was hinting at? Even so, why would there be such a hint here?


    The moment I finished thinking this, I heard a ding ring out, and the quest was completed as a window popped up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    Congratulations, you have found the answer to a riddle that has stumped many! Be proud, stand strong! Never forget your mother''s love! Don''t forget, "If you do wrong, I''mma beat you!"


    Quest Reward:


    Personalized unique skill and trait upon completion of the Celestial Realm Character customization.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This result made me wonder if the quest system could spontaneously generate quests based on the player''s memories. If so, I wondered what was the aim in utilizing such a system. Considering that the system could do such a thing, it was a good thing the company''s systems had never been compromised and their main systems hadn''t been found, or a lot of sensitive secrets might be used to blackmail people. Supercal didn''t seem interested in controlling anything, and instead only controlled their game alone. The company as a whole took no interest in politics, or conquest, nor did they try to control a monopoly on VR games.


    The reasons Trinity was the uncontested number one were not related to any efforts to control anything, but their dedication to protecting their customers and the quality of their game. Trinity had the most realistic graphics, and the best safety of any VRMMORPG on the galactic network. Technically it was on it''s own network, but it was still considered as being on the same general network. Coupled with the safety of their pods, the dedication to ensuring a realistic gaming experience, and a number of other factors, it certainly made their game more attractive than most other VR or regular MMORPGs.


    Thinking of these things still left me stumped about the reason I would face this quest, and the words in the congratulatory message. Did my mom have something more to do with Trinity Online than I already knew? I couldn''t be certain, but I had a strong suspicion that was the case.


    Whatever, it doesn''t have anything to do with me. I don''t expect anything special, even if that turns out to be the case. I should just get to work, I have 32 features to choose, that''s a lot of work. How should I go about it?


    Thinking to here, I sat down and began to consider what type of features I might like. First, wings, both the Angaellis, and the Daemonis were able to call out wings made of psion energy, but had to wings of their own. I was always fascinated by the angels as depicted in Old Earth''s Christianity and Catholicism, and thought the idea of having real wings was pretty cool.


    What else?


    Next, I remembered the legends of unicorns, who had incredible healing power stored in their horns and ran extremely quickly through the wilds. I also remembered seeing some old pictures that depicted women with unicorn horns, and remembered thinking they were pretty cool looking.


    After that, there were the deer or elk of Old Earth. They had huge antlers that looked like a type of natural crown, and made them seem very regal. They didn''t go looking for trouble, but would sometimes show incredible power on a level you wouldn''t think they would have.


    I was inspired by that thought, my body inside the game was not nearly as dangerous looking as before, and I would rather look unimpressive and be able to unleash huge power than look impressive and be without depth. This new world was one where such things would be important. Unfortunately, events would occur that would cause me to be unable to build up such power for quite a while after this.


    What else should I aim for?


    I always liked the image of wolves back on my homeworld, a number had been released into the wild back there. They were dangerous to have to face, but wolves were quite cool looking. My favorite type of wolf were what was referred to as white wolves. They weren''t all pure white, but their white winter coats were quite impressive. I have seen a few paintings of such wolves on a green background, it was fanciful, but they looked majestic. I wondered if I shouldn''t get wolves nose, ears, or tail for my animal features.


    If I did the nose, I decided I''d rather only have the olfactory sensitivity rather than the actual muzzle and snout of a wolf. I wanted to keep my current facial features, and not make any visible facial changes besides the unicorn horn in the middle of the forehead. That is, if I could even manage to get the unicorn horn in the first place.


    As far as other bestial features, I was completely undecided. Perhaps I might go for scales like a dragon, or gills for breathing when underwater. Maybe I might be interested in internal organs of beasts who''s organs where more effective and durable than humans and the other alliance races, or I might just go with something random. As long as it wasn''t too negative, and had an overall positive set of bonuses, it should be fine. After all, I didn''t need my bonuses to be the best, just so long as they weren''t the worst, things wouldn''t be so bad. Even if they were the worst, and all negative bonuses, I would be able to make something of the situation so long as I was willing to put in the effort both now, and later on.


    Thinking thus far, I decided to see what beasts I found, and see if any of them had any interesting abilities I''d like before I decided anything more. Appearance-wise, just the things I had already thought of matched the image I had in my head, so that was enough. As for other things, I''d prefer if they were internal, or not easily seen. After all, too much was not good.


    Having decided my course for now, I looked toward that ancient city below. Observing it, I found that no beasts seemed to wander it''s streets, but this did not mean there would be none. I learned from the quest menu that I should not be able to be attacked during this quest, but that did not mean that there was no danger of dying at all, so I decided to be cautious. Considering my options, I could go into the city, skirt around it to the forest, or head towards either the plains or the mountains. Honestly, the mountains were quite a ways away, while the plains looked rather full of wildlife. The forest, on the other hand, was on the other side of the city, so I would either have to make a long detour around it''s gigantic oval walls, or go through it to save some time.


    I honestly thought there might be greater danger in the city, but the thought of going that route invoked a sense of adventure. This lead me to decide to cautiously go through the city, and maybe explore it for any remnants of the civilization that had lived there. I was worried there might be some form of "magic" circle that might activate, but if I took precautions it should be okay.


    The quest told me I could use telepathy to communicate with the beasts during this quest, but I wondered how that would work with the cause of my stuttering being inside the brain. I wondered if they would possibly be able to understand sign language, or if I''d only be able to communicate with a stuttering telepathy. Anyway, I decided to see if they could understand galactic sign language before I attempted to use that telepathy, in case they could understand it.


    I stood up, and headed down toward the city. It took me a very long time to reach it, as the hill I was on was quite large, and it was at the bottom of the hill, but I finally reached. Arriving before the gates, I cautiously approached, and gingerly stuck a foot through, putting my foot onto the ground inside the gates, and being ready to quickly withdraw the foot incase a magic circle was present. Luckily, no such thing was present, or at least didn''t activate, and I proceeded onward, into the city.


    This city was gigantic, and the buildings were far larger than what a human would build, it seemed to be a city of giants, but where were they now? It was hard to believe that the beasts I had seen thusfar would be capable of defeating the builders of such a gigantic city. I forgot my original objective, and wandered around looking at the amazing architecture. The detail on the frescos and decorations of this city made it hard to believe they had been made by giants, but the scenes were certainly amazing. These decorations seemed to evoke an illusion as I looked at them.


    Angels and Demons battled over a magnificent city floating on a gigantic continent that seemed to be hovering within the void, while beasts fled from the powerful blasts caused by the fights of these celestial beings. Magic flew everywhere, psionics answered while martial might was mixed in, causing massive damage to the surroundings. Gigantic trees burst into flames before they turned to ash in the next moment, gigantic mountains were leveled in an instant, and massive lakes were dried up just as quickly. Huge mountains arose, trapping beings within them, lightning lashed out and destroyed those mountains in an instant. Gigantic ice storms raged, and clashed with huge pillars of fire as ice spires sprung up within them. It was a chaotic scene unlike any I had ever seen before.


    The power of these beings was on a level that was awe inspiring, I imagined to be far beyond the level of the current players on Farside. The chants these beings were using were far too complex for me to even understand, let alone use myself. The scene was incredible, and left an indelible impression on me. I couldn''t wait for the day in which I could do similar things to this.


    -----


    Exploring the city, I came to find that no beasts would enter into the city, and it was completely empty. It appeared untouched, a great deal of ornately crafted living utensils, and comforts were left lying in their spots, as if whatever happened to the people here happened in an instant. I couldn''t figure out why the various silverware and metal-ware were unharmed  by the passage of time. From the dust on the buildings, these things should have been oxidized and broken down by the passage of time, yet they were in pristine condition once I wiped off the hardened layer of dust which was covering them. I felt like an archaeologist trying to understand the mystery of an ancient civilization, but the objects I was uncovering were still in mint condition rather than being decayed over thousands of years.


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    The buildings were also in remarkable condition, leading me to wonder what had happened here, and why everything had been so well preserved. What was the purpose of this preservation, and how was it done? The mystery was killing me. I decided to investigate, and see what I could understand about what had happened here. Even if I didn''t find anything, it would at least allow me to sate my curiosity. That old saying, curiosity killed the Noumbrev came to mind, but that was just a passing thought.


    I began to look through the city, being careful to watch for any signs of traps or magic circles in the area. Any time I tried to enter a building, I first checked to make certain that no reaction happened when I stuck my foot through, then entered into the building after making sure nothing happened. I adopted the same procedure for any rooms I attempted to enter after a circle was activated when I tried to enter into one, luckily the effect was only an itch effect, but it still caused me to become more cautious. The only thing in that room was a case of old dolls, and nothing really caught my eye, despite their value they had no effects of any kind and I had no storage devices anyway, but that itching effect was truly torturous. The itch only lasted for an hour, but it was a terribly strong itching sensation.


    After a long time searching, I found a single room that had a trap which began to throw fireballs toward the person who entered into the room. On a single pedestal were two ornate rings, the only objects in the room were these three things. It almost killed me the first time, and I had to rest for a while in order to restore my health. I tested a few times and found the area of effect to be around 3 kels, which is equal to the old foot of the imperial measurement system


    Farside''s measurement system was a bit strange as it took the foot and then did the same thing as the metric system did with the meter. The measurements were vels, cels, mels, kels, fels, drels, and kefels. The whole measurement system was difficult for me to understand, and equate to, but we had all been told, and show how the system worked, so I barely managed.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    You have received a new sub-quest: Gather the two mysterious rings!


    Two mysterious rings sit atop a pedestal within a room of the giant''s city, protected by a magic circle. Gather the two rings, and leave the room in safety. Be careful, this room is more dangerous than it seems.


    Rings Collected: 0/2


    Rewards:


    The two rings


    Failure Conditions:


    Leaving the building without having retrieved the rings


    Death


    Penalties for failure:


    Permanent experience gain reduction.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I couldn''t believe this quest, but the way my life had been going lately it was typical. I simply ignored the unfairness of these mandatory quests, and tried to figure out what to do next. As far as the room went, those fireballs were not too large, but that pedestal was pretty tall, and I had to learn the timing.


    I began by putting by foot on the floor and immediately jumping back a few times to see how often the fireballs might fire, or if it was a single shot circle. Unfortunately, it was a constant circle, but after some testing, I found that the circle took approximately 15 seconds to recharge before another fireball would fire off. The fireballs were not particularly fast moving, so if I had not been caught off-guard by the first fireball''s size I wouldn''t have been hit. After some more testing, I decided to try reaching that pedestal. 15 seconds would have been a fairly bothersome timeframe for the giants, although the damage was likely not very high for them, but for me those fireballs could be deadly. As such, I repeatedly tested to make sure their firing speed would not speed up over time.


    Once I had determined that it wasn''t a circle where the firing timing would speed up, at least at the edge, I decided to see if I could run fast enough to avoid the fireballs. For this purpose, I ran into the room, and began to make a short circuitous route into the room and back out. I chose to take a route that went around 15 kels into the room, and back out. It turned out that I could certainly avoid the fireballs, so I decided to risk running to the pedestal and circling it to see if the fireballs would still fire at the pedestal, and if there was even a way to climb the pedestal in the first place. If there was no way to climb, it would not matter if I could reach it at all as I would be unable to reach those rings anyway. I sincerely hoped there was a way to climb, and that there were no other variables, or I would have to face a permanent experience point reduction to anything I did that earn experience, and that amount was undetermined at this point. It could be that I would have a 50% of higher reduction in earned experience, which would be horrible.


    Rushing toward the pedestal, I found the trip to take forever, the room must have been several fels in length. I found another problem besides fatigue as I ran, the fireballs slowly began to increase in the diameter of their explosions. All I could do is keep running and hope I could continue outrunning the explosions, so I ran as quickly as I could run while my pace remained steady. As I got close to the pedestal, I saw that it had a very rough surface, and had regular hand and foot-holds all over it''s face.


    When I was within 300 mels of the pedestal, it became hard to stay ahead. I was finally hit when I had just stepped within the last ten mels by a monstrous fireball, taking out 40% of my health. It hurt like a b**ch, and I was thrown into the pillar, taking another 30% of my maximum health when I hit. Fortunately, the fireballs stopped firing once I reached the pillar, but I was terrified when I looked up to find that lightning was gathering along the inner rim of the dome at the top of this circular room and began climbing as fast as possible.


    Luckily there were a great many places to use for climbing, but as lightning struck where I had just been I did not count myself lucky.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You were within 3 mels of a lightning strike, and have experienced a slight paralysis, reducing your movement speed by 1% and lessening your hand-eye coordination for 15 minutes.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    If it was only that things wouldn''t be so bad, but every time the pillar near me was struck, I received a message indicating another reduction to both movement speed and hand-eye coordination. The amount of reduction varied between amount .01 and .5%, but the reductions slowly built up, and by the time I was under the lip at the top of the pillar it was difficult to even move a couple of lightning strikes had actually hit me toward the end, and I had only 1 point of health remaining, a very distressing number. Luckily, the lightning couldn''t hit me where I was, but sitting there on a cliff face with no harness would be dangerous, so I could only allow myself to sit still for a moment in order to regain some health before I grabbed the ledge and pulled myself up to as quickly as I possibly could.


    As I got up and ran toward the rings, I found yet another set of problems. One was the huge size of the rings, the other was the the fact that the circle was now rapidly reducing the temperature of the air surrounding me. Luckily it didn''t do any damage at first, and I was able to regenerate some health as I quickly ran, but as I came within 15 mels of the rings the damage began, and the accompanied slowing effect. Fighting against time, I rushed toward rings as quickly as possible. Within 10 mels, I could finally see information on the rings.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion (Unbound) (Men) (Mythical Artifact)


    This is the male''s copy of the paired rings meant to signify everlasting devotion. The original owner of this ring has long since disappeared and any link to him has been severed, as such it can be worn by another being. The original bonus of these rings is unknown, but the knowledge of their purpose as wedding rings will allow their first effect to be known. This is a sentient ring, and other effects will unlock based on circumstances and the ring''s acceptance of the owner.


    Item Effects:


    Increases all stats with the wearer of the partner ring by 10% of the wearer''s stats.


    Locked effect


    Locked effect


    Locked effect


    Locked effect


    Bonus effects:


    Adjusts it''s size to properly fit on the accepted owner''s hand.


    Currently unbound, additional effects will show themselves upon binding


    Requirements to Wear:


    Currently unknown.


    Must be Male.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion (Unbound) (Women) (Mythical Artifact)


    This is the female copy of the Hear Ring of Everlasting Devotion, and is meant for the mate of the male ring. The original bonus of these rings is unknown, but the knowledge of their purpose as wedding rings will allow their first effect to be known. This is a sentient ring, and other effects will unlock based on circumstances and the ring''s acceptance of the owner.


    Item Effects:


    Increases all stats with the wearer of the partner ring by 10% of the wearer''s stats.


    Locked effect


    Locked effect


    Locked effect


    Locked effect


    Bonus effects:


    Adjusts it''s size to properly fit on the accepted owner''s hand.


    Currently unbound, additional effects will show themselves upon binding


    Requirements to Wear:


    Currently unknown.


    Must be Female</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I couldn''t do much more than glance over the rings'' information as I rushed toward them. Even that almost caused me to stumble and become a popsicle. These rings were already incredibly insane just from looking at their first effect, but they were also mythical tier artifacts with 4 unknown bonuses in addition to some hidden additional bonuses that would appear once it was worn. Not to mention you could add on the fact that they could adjust to fit the person they were bound to. It was too bad I had no clue how to bind artifacts to you, but I hoped they could at least be used as a windbreak from this icy wind.


    The damage became greater and greater the closer I got to the rings, and I barely managed to dive into the male ring, but as I did I didn''t notice that a single drop of my blood fell onto the ring, which would soon put me into a quandary. As I landed within the circle of the ring, the wind was blocked, and they damages caused by it were stopped, allowing me a short breather. Sadly, this didn''t last long, as a brilliant light was soon emitted by the ring, and the next moment I was facing the damage and slowing of that icy wind once again. I had no idea what had happened, and only barely made it into the circle of the female ring before my life reached 0.


    I couldn''t figure out what happened to the male ring at all. I peaked over the edge of the female ring and risked losing my life, but no sign of the second ring could be found no matter how I looked, so I could only take shelter in the female ring for the time being. Despite the fact that damages ceased once I was out of the wind, the air was still very cold, and I was worried I would be unable to make it out of there as anything but a popsicle.


    Shivering, I clutched my shoulders, but was amazed when I realized that it felt much warmer than it had a moment ago. It was still quite cold, so I had to get moving soon, but I could stand it somehow for the time being. My health slowly began to restore, and I wandered within the ring, keeping my self warm by moving. Thankfully the quest I was on kept me from becoming tired from regular movement, although the constant running earlier had taken it''s toll, otherwise I would have collapsed from exhaustion by that point.


    It certainly was a harrowing experience, but I kept wondering what happened to the male ring, until the moment I looked downward. There on the ring finger of my left hand sat an ornate ring, glowing slightly. The next moment after I noticed it, it disappeared and was replaced by a tattoo in the shape of an ornate silver ring just like the male ring. While this was happening, I almost collapsed as I was overcome with an incredible pain.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    You have been soul-bound to the male copy of the Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion, and learned the additional effects of the ring.


    Additional bonuses:


    Inter-spacial Storage Ring:


    Initial space: 15 mel squared


    Additional space: 5 mel squared per level beyond level 1


    Lay on Hands (Rank 1 of 10):


    Can restore health of someone you are touching to full


    Can remove all negative effects placed upon the touched target


    Can resurrect target


    Cannot be used in combat


    Charges:


    1/1 (requires 24 hours to charge)


    Restrictions:


    Must be touching target with both hands


    Lay on Hands not applicable upon some quest NPCs


    +50% healing spell compatibility


    Cannot be dropped, sold, stolen, or removed


    Due to soul-binding, will transfer with the character upon death


    Must be above the age of 10 to use the inter-spacial storage of this ring</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I was shocked to see these effects, and had no idea how it had been bound to me in the first place. That inter-spacial storage would likely allow me to put the female''s ring into it, but I decided it would be best to wait until my health had fully recovered before trying to stuff it in there, as it would be very dangerous otherwise. That icy wind was still blowing violently outside, and the only thing stopping it from harming me at that moment was the female ring. It was a good thing I was above age 10 currently, but I wouldn''t be able to use the storage until I was above that age once I got through the celestial realm.


    The special tutorial of Farside would require me to go through being born, and raised on Farside within the game. This was a bit inconvenient, but would also served to enhance the game experience of players who purchased a platinum pod. The special tutorial would give a generous reward for the first person to complete it on each planet, and the subsequent completions of the regular tutorial by players with at least a silver tier account would gain a lesser reward dependant on their account type and character quirks. It was a retroactive bonus that would apply to any current account of the proper level that was active on Farside upon completion of the special tutorial by a player on Farside.


    The completion of a special tutorial was a huge deal, as it would certainly make the players of a given planet more powerful, and they frequently unlocked a number of character races that would not be unlocked for general use until the special tutorial was completed. Whole planets would often celebrate when one of the more popular worlds of Trinity had the honor of having the special tutorial completed back in the day, but Farside was the only remaining special tutorial, and was not one of the more popular worlds after all, so it was unlikely such a thing would happen should I finish this tutorial properly. The others were waiting for me to finish the tutorial though, and even the inmates had at least a silver account, so they would at least be happy with the results if I could complete it.


    I continued waiting until my health had fully healed as I wandered within the ring, wondering why it was so cold out there but was not inside the ring. It wasn''t like it was warm within the ring, but it certainly was anything but the bone chilling cold of the current outside, and was even right around freezing rather than being sub-zero. My health rose to full more swiftly than I thought, while I was using movement to warm my body, and I found myself reluctant to try to store the female copy of the lovers'' rings. I hesitated to remove the ring, it was cold after all and stood there debating with myself over whether I should ven remove it, but these two rings would be quite helpful later on if I took both of them.


    Eventually, I removed the female ring by storing it in the inter-spacial storage, though it did take me a while to figure out how it worked. Storage was as simple as touching the ring and thinking "Store item," a fact that left me sheepish for not thinking of it earlier. Of course, the sheepishness did not last long as several notifications popped up.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>


    Congratulations! You have completed a step and a sub-quest has updated: Gather the two mysterious rings!


    Two mysterious rings sit atop a pedestal within a room of the giant''s city, protected by a magic circle. Gather the two rings, and leave the room in safety. Be careful, this room is more dangerous than it seems.


    Having retrieved the two rings, you must successfully exit the room without losing your life.


    Rings Collected: 2/2 - Completed


    Exit Room without dying - In Progress


    Rewards:


    The two rings


    Failure Conditions:


    Leaving the building without having retrieved the rings


    Death


    Do not leave the room with both rings


    Penalties for failure:


    Permanent experience gain reduction.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I felt the first blasts of wind strike me as I finished reading, and shivered uncontrollably. I quickly began running toward the edge of the pillar. I kept up the speed as I neared the edge of the pillar, which was a mistake as slipped off the edge as I tried to stop myself.


    Luckily, I managed to notice an ice spike sticking up from the edge, and grabbed it. That icicle was actually strong, and I quickly decelerated only to find myself slamming into the pillar below the ledge. I had to scramble to grab a handhold, and then to get up under the ledge close enough no lightning would fire at me. I had to once more wait for my health to recover in order to climb down the pillar, leaving me rather annoyed.


    While I was sitting there waiting for my health to recover, I realized I had 2 problems. The first problem was the lightning strikes and their numbing effects in relation to my reduced climbing speed while climbing downward. The second problem was the fireballs once I got down to ground level. These fireballs were quite large near the pillar, and were all quite powerful at my current level. I also had no idea if there would be any complications such as the fireballs all being the larger size once I got down, or the lightning on the pillar being more powerful, firing more rapidly, or causing more of a numbing effect than before. For all I knew, there could be a lot more dangerous things in store than that, it was a fearful thought.


    After my health recovered once again, I shored up my courage and began to climb down as quickly as I could. I nearly had a heart attack when a lightning strike hit very close to me, and caused me to lose my grip while also stunning me. It took 2 seconds for my stun to wear off in which I had already fallen dozens of mel toward the ground. I frantically grabbed for the next handhold on the pillar and wrenched my wrists while I also slammed into the pillar, taking my breath away. I didn''t have much time, and barely got my breath back, and my pain under control when the first lightning strike hit. Luckily, the strike was off and I didn''t get directly hit by the lightning, nor stunned by it.


    I began to scramble down as quickly as I could without hurting myself further, but was forced to deal with the numbness from strikes that missed. Fortunately, this actually helped to some extent as the feeling of pain from my wrenched wrists was reduced by the numbing, even if the numbing sensation itself was rather annoying. There were a number of strikes that almost hit me, but no stun effect luckily enough, and a few close slips where I fell a couple feet before getting a grip on a handhold. In the process of climbing down, I hurt my wrists dozens of times. It seemed that I couldn''t be attacked directly, but the trap didn''t actually aim to do that anyway and took advantage of loopholes in the quest rules to hit me with something I remember Siri called environmental damage.


    I managed to reach the ground safely enough, but that was just the start of even bigger problems. My body was numb, and I barely had enough time to start accelerating before I was hit my a fireball blast, throwing my several feet through the air before I hit the ground hard. I had no choice but to ignore the searing pain in my back as I forced myself off the ground using all my strength to both push myself up, and resist the sharp pains that when through both my wrists and my back as I got up and started to run once again.


    My next problem occurred here, not only were the fireballs staying large, their rate of fire was faster than before. I was hit by the shockwave of the next fireball but, were I to let up on speed for even a moment, I would be hit by another fireball, so I was forced to continue running while being pushed by the shockwave from the second fireball to hit me. Miraculously, I managed to land running, and put on a burst of speed thanks to the second fireball''s shockwave. Unfortunately, I hurt my legs while landing, and the pain from my back and legs was excruciating, but I had no choice by to run as fast as I could.


    I don''t recommend running while in excruciating pain, it saps the will, and your stamina. Halfway through my run back I already felt like I was about to faint, but I soldiered through it. At the end, I was hit by another fireball blast wave, and thrown out of the room. I only had a sliver of health left as I looked deliriously at my health right before finally passing out.

 Volume One: Chapter Three: Labyrinthine Passages - Part One

    A bit of a long chapter, and it''s only part one of Labyrinthine Passages. . . Anyway, hope you enjoy.


    ---------------------


    A few minutes after Andaros''s entered the game and began his adventures in a brave new world, everyone else had begun to log in to play the normal tutorial. Caera was quite jealous of the humanoid girls as there were no pods designed for animals in this room, and so she climbed into an empty pod she noticed after the humanoids of the mansion entered the game. Without warning, that pod closed and she was trapped inside. No matter how she tried she couldn''t get out, but she didn''t panic. Thinking about it, she considered this an opportunity to possibly experience the world of Trinity Online, and totally forgot there were pods specifically for the Mreow in the Mreow kennel main room. She was so excited she also didn''t realize that it was a medical pod she got into.


    Let''s see, they laid down like this.


    Having watched everyone get into their pods, Caera emulated the position they had laid in, and was surprised to find the straps that held the others down for safety''s sake tighten down and hold her limbs in a similar position. Following her laying down, the pod immediately began to hum, for whatever reason.


    "Startup initiated," a feminine voice sounded out, and the next thing she knew she blacked out.


    ----------


    Caera''s POV:


    "Imperfect genetic splicing detected, Human and Sabertooth Tiger replicate DNA and RNA detected," I heard a voice state as I awoke in a strange, purely white room. "Analyzing DNA and RNA strands. . . Initiating genetic resequencing. . . Combining DNA and RNA, altering subject''s genetics and body to best combine the subject''s separate genetics. . . Genetic restructuring underway, altering subject''s bodily structure and functions, placing subject''s body into stasis and continuing procedures. Choose Player race, and determine looks, subject''s DNA will be modified to match in game avatar."


    "What. . .? . . .Eh?! I spoke?! I''m speaking just like Master Andaros?!"


    "Subject is indeed speaking, please choose character race. Due to genetics, only humanoid races that combine Tiger features will be made available. . . Congratulations, you have gained the right to use the Duos race due to random roll, please choose your player race."


    I was totally shocked by the fact that I could speak like master and the others, but what I saw next shocked me greatly, in front of my eyes appeared seven different races that shared both humanoid and animal features. Each race had Tiger features, and most looked mainly Tiger with a humanoid shape a number had backswept legs while some had humanoid legs, albeit thick looking ones, but one was decidedly different.


    This race looked mostly the same as the others and had a mix of humanoid and Tiger features, but it was the only race with a mostly human face while adding a few tigerish features such as tigerish nose. This race was also the only race with two tails, and horizontally slitted eyes. The typical Tiger race had eyes that were slit vertically, but this race had that horizontal slit instead. Personally, I considered this quite interesting, but what caught my attention most was that it had elongated upper canines like my own, although they were shorter. This was the Duos race, a unique race among the tiger humanoids.


    The only other race that caught my eye initially was a white striped Tiger humanoid race called the Corros. They looked like a sabertooth tiger than had a humanoid body, but was mainly tiger despite that, of the other races this was the only other race that interested me. The Corros race avatar was quite buff, while the Duos avatar was quite feminine by comparison. It was still quite a buff race, but was more like comparing a panther to a lion when it came to the difference in build. Both were quite buff, but the duos was more of a compact kind of buff in comparison to the Corros.


    I remembered from Siri and Teraise''s classes that every race had their own advantages and disadvantages, just like how I learned about the avatars. Anyway, I decided to ask about that.


    "Can you show me the racial characteristics of the Corros and Duos races?"


    "Certainly," the voice responded to my query, and two windows appeared before me. It was a good thing I had sat in on the classes, or I would have been scared out of my skin by something like this appearing.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Corros Racial Trait


    The genetic traits of the Corros rase provide a number of benefits, and deficiencies.


    Racial bonuses:


    Body focus = strength


    x2.6 Body growth per level


    x3 inventory weight capacity


    Martial Reservoir x2 capacity (Farside only)


    +15 luck/blessing stat


    Racial Deficiencies:


    x.6 Mind growth per level


    x.4 Psion growth per level


    x1.7 experience required per level


    x.8 fertility (Human fertility used as base)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This race was certainly made for physical might, rather than being designed to be a mage or psionicist. It did certainly look powerful, but I wasn''t sure I''d like that setup so much. That experience deficiency was a big hit from what I remembered from the classes. It would be difficult to level, especially in the later levels. On the other hand the strength growth bonus would be a huge bonus for the warrior type class titles.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Duos Racial Trait


    The Duos race are rather unique among the therianthropic races. Endowed with special bonuses and abilities even among similar races, this race is rarely seen amongst civilization. It has the most bonuses of any therianthropic races with the least deficiencies. While having a human-like base, the race is able to turn into a more animalistic form and gain additional bonuses.


    Racial Bonuses:


    X1.7 Strength growth per level


    x1.6 Mind growth per level


    x1.4 psion growth per level


    x2 inventory weight capacity


    x3 Martial reservoir capacity (Farside only)


    +25 Luck/blessing


    Can reproduce with any race


    Bonus Abilities:


    Bestial Form:


    The Duos race has the ability to take on the form of one of the more animalistic therianthropic races, gaining their bonuses without the deficiencies. The player can choose between two races which are chosen during character creation. The Duos race have trouble reproducing, but can reproduce with other races.


    Bestial forms:


    Undecided


    Undecided


    Duration: 5 minutes per 10 levels


    Deficiencies:


    x1.2 experience required per level


    x0.2 fertility (Human fertility as base)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The fertility was a problem, but the racial ability bonus was quite useful, but in real life I didn''t really want that fertility issue. I suppose it wouldn''t be a problem for Andaros, but I certainly would rather be able to have a child with him without all the trouble of having a low fertility rate.


    "Can I use the duos race, but replace the special ability for higher fertility in real life?"


    "That is possible, but you will be unable to transform in real life, is this acceptable," the voice answered with a question.


    "Yes, please."


    "Understood, fertility rate will be 87% of the human mean in real life," the voice replied. "Initiating genetic adjustments to projected real life end form. Please choose two races for Duos racial ability within the game world."


    "Then, I''ll choose the Corros race," I told the voice. "Is it possible to choose another race besides these 6 for the second racial transformation?"


    "I am sorry, but that is not possible."


    "Then, I''ll choose that one," I replied, randomly choosing one of the other races, this one had a blood red pelt, rather than the standard orange pelt a tiger typically would have.


    "This racial choice will alter the coloration of the Duos race, displaying alterations now," the voice once again spoke.


    What appeared in front of me was a Duos with black stripes, with red and white stripes alternating for the other striping. It had a somewhat small chest, and I remembered that Andaros seemed to like larger chests.


    "Is this acceptable?"


    "Can you increase the chest size and make it rather large for the human race? I think it was an H-cup?"


    "H-cup is a rather large size when going by the ancient human measurement system. It will likely cause a balance issue in the early play period, and can cause back problems. Do you wish to strengthen the muscular systems of the back, and will the balance issues be a problem?"


    "The balance issues I can adjust to, and I would like to strengthen the back''s musculoskeletal structure. . . I think that was what they called it."


    "Understood, strengthening back structure. This will result in a small deficiency in experience gain, modifying the experience required to level up by an additional 2% but will not affect real life. Is this acceptable?"


    "It is, please proceed," I answered after seeing the changes.


    "Please decide a starter planet. There are no restrictions on starter planets," The voice told me, "Duos are available on all planets, but are extremely rare on most planets."


    "I believe they were going to Farside, so I''ll start there."


    "Farside locked in for character creation, your genetic resequencing and body modifications are underway, and will require 36 hours to complete. Please choose a character name for your avatar."


    "I''ll go with Caera."


    "Understood. Please choose starting nation."


    "Hmmmm, queendom? I think they said that was a nation that was ruled by females rather than the males having all the power. . . I''ll start there," I told the voice.


    "As you wish, setting the Queendom of Avelynn as your starting nation. Initiating procedures to set character options. . ."


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>A mutation has occured in your race due to the races chosen for racial ability. Duos Crevna now set as player race.


    The Duos Crevna are an incredibly rare variant of the Duos race. Their tails are much thicker and can be used for attacking, even in duos form. The race is unable to mate with other duos, but has a higher fertility rate compared to the standard Duos race. Males of this sub-race have Hair the color of half-dried blood, while females have various shades of pink. Female hair color for this race is randomly determined by the system.


    Modifications:


    Bonuses:


    Body focus = Strength/Agility


    Mind focus = Mana regen


    Psion focus = Psion regen


    x1.9 Strength growth pr level


    x1.8 Mind growth per level


    x1.8 Psion growth per level


    x5 Inventory weight capacity


    x2 Mana reservoir capacity (Farside only)


    x1.5 Psion reservoir capacity (Farside only)


    +15 luck/blessing


    Fertility x1.0 (based on human average)


    can mate with any race (besides Duos and Duos Crevna)


    Racial Ability:


    Duration: 2.5 minutes per 10 levels


    Deficiencies:


    Cannot mate with Duos or Duos Crevna race in order to produce children


    x1.4 experience required to level up


    Due to circumstances racial modifications and ability apply to real life body.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    "Applying modifications to real body."


    I was shocked, there was no doubt about it, this was total overkill. I didn''t even know how to explain the whole thing to Andaros. My body''s pelt had turned a shade of pink, rather than either red or white, which completely confused me. The Duos Crevna seemed like a mix between the Duos and the two races used as the bestial form of the Duos, making them more animalistic. Still, rather than looking like musclebound hulks like the rest of the Tiger/humanoid hybrids, their looks leaned more toward the Duos side. They did have a wilder, more dangerous look than the regular Duos, but it was still more human than animal to my eyes. I did notice that I seemed taller, but my body was leaner than either the Corros or the randomly chosen Falshen races.


    "A mutation, interesting," the voice said. "I can''t do anything about the Duos Crevna looks as their hair color is a preset determination by the system itself. They''re also more animalistic in the nature of their looks, but I hope you won''t mind that. I simply do not have any control over it as the main system will over-write any changes I try to do in your race at this point, please understand. Do you wish to play the tutorial?"


    I didn''t understand, but there was apparently no use complaining. It''s not like it was bad though, the Duos Crevna had absolutely no difference from human fertility. They were a bit more like my real form so the change was pleasant in a way, although that pink color sucked! I liked my original red pelt, or that alternating red and white pelt, I didn''t want PINK!


    "I''ll play the tutorial," I replied flatly.


    "Happy gaming," was the last thing I heard before my world went dark, and I began my first steps into the world my Master had begun to play in.


    ---------


    Andaros/Zef''s POV


    "Ugh!"


    I awoke to a great deal of pain, and a massive headache. At first I was confused about where I was, but eventually I realized that the green thing floating in front of my face was an information window.


    Wasn''t it blue before?


    I looked at the screen after glancing to see that my health was now at 60%. Rather than dwelling on the window color, I decided to see what it said.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Congratulations! You have completed the challenge and earned the two rings! You should be careful whom you choose as the recipient of the second ring as you can only choose once!


    Rewards:


    Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion(Male)(Soul-bound)(Mythical Artifact)


    Heart Ring of Everlasting Devotion(Female)(Unbound)(Mythical Artifact)</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I was rather confused by the fact that I managed to gain two Mythical tier artifacts from this quest, and had my suspicions that this was not something I could have done without being an extremely high level or having my current quest in effect. I almost died, but somehow managed to survive a quest that rewarded such good loot. This was most certainly not a result I would ever expect if the traps had been able to target me directly, or even able to hit close enough that the damage wasn''t reduced so much.


    I groaned at the aches and pains, and saw a bad status icon in the upper right corner of my screen. Highlighting it, countdown timer appeared with a remaining 15 minutes 38 seconds in Farside equivalents, Crons and Nits respectively. It seemed I would have to put up with these aches and pains until then. That was okay though, as I would just rest here until my health was fully restored anyway. Another thing I could do was to stretch, for some reason the countdown timer on aches and pains could be reduced by doing light stretches, similar to some ache and pains in real life. Just like in real life it wouldn''t work for heavy injuries, or something fatal, but for this it was fine. I was surprised that I didn''t suffer from burns, and I didn''t feel any scarring, but I guessed that it was because my character hadn''t actually been conceived or born yet, or had already healed from those while I was out cold, it was understandable that way.


    After the timer had expired, I found that it was getting late. I didn''t know what could happen in this abandoned city at night, so I decided to just find a safe enough place in the building, and rest. To this end, I found a high ledge that was broken off from the rest of the ledge, and jumped across before resting there. In the middle of the night, I awoke to find a giant ghostly eye staring at me, which was quite disconcerting.


    "So you''re the little rat who took my rings, eh?"


    {. . . Sorry?}


    I must have shown my fear, as he laughed and said, "Don''t get me wrong little rat, I''m not mad. In fact, I''ve been debating on whether I should give you a gift for accomplishing that little stunt you pulled while at your current level," as he smiled brightly. "Hmmm, so you''re on a quest to gather gifts of beings here in the Celestial Realm? Well, will you accept my gift?"


    I thought about it for a moment, then nodded my head.


    "Hahaha, you shouldn''t trust beings here so easily, but I''ll reward you for it in my case," the giant said in a jovial manner. "Here, the best ability I can gift you."


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a gift from the Giant Hapniere!


    You have gained a gift from the spirit of the giant Hapniere, a hero of old. Having seen your heart, and being impressed by the task you accomplished, the giant has gifted you with a very special gift only the giants possess.


    Current Gift Slots used: 1/32</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I was surprised by this, and a bit confused by the change to what the slots were called, but I supposed it was because I had received one from a spirit rather than a celestial or daemonic beast.


    "I see you''ve noticed the change I made to your quest," the giant stated. "I''ll explain, as the gift I''ve given you won''t show up until I do, and the details of your quest have changed. The gift I''ve given you is called "Giant''s Gait," an active ability type gift. When you are using this gift, you will be able to walk as if you were a giant. This means that you will be able to cover the same amount of distance as a giant would in a single step for each of your steps. For a being like you this is like teleporting, though it''s not exactly so, it''s just that it appears so to others. It feeds off of your stamina, so you must be careful to watch it, but it shouldn''t use a large amount of your stamina either."


    "As for the change to your quest, you are no longer bound to only gathering celestial beast or daemon beast gifts, and can gather them from fell-beasts and spirits. I changed the wording to gifts as that is basically what you are receiving, whether they are useful gifts or not," he explained. "I would also admonish you to be more careful of whom you trust. Luckily I''m a trustworthy sort, but you must be careful, as some beings may appear trustworthy and are not, while the opposite may also prove true. In short, just be careful. It''s good to see that a worthy being has earned my rings, but be careful whom you trust, and whom you gift the other ring to. Once again, be careful, got that? C-A-R-E-F-U-L!"


    "I''ve got to go now, my family is waiting for me on the other side. Make sure you visit the other buildings in the city, you may find some other surprising items if you do. I can sense some other items still within the city, and you should still be able to fit some more things into the ring. Take care, and may the spirits bless you."


    With that, the giant took a step, and seem to disappear into a far off place.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Gift - Racial Ability: Giant''s Gait has been received as a gift.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Racial Ability: Giant''s Gait - Mythical Rank (Max level)(Active Ability)


    True giants are known for their massive size, strength, and their ability to step hundreds of mel or more in a single step. This ability is like a dream to lesser races, and the giant who gave you this gift has entrusted you with an ability now only heard of in legends, use it well.


    Type: Active Spirit Ability


    Effect: x100 stride length of character


    Charge time: Instantaneous


    Activation time: Instantaneous


    Cost: x2 stamina usage for movement abilities such as run while active


    basic steps cost 1 stamina every 10 seconds


    Restrictions:


    Can only be gifted by a true giant, cannot be gifted by other races


    Cannot be stolen


    Cannot be passed on through the blood</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I was incredibly impressed by this ability. It couldn''t be passed on, but that was not such a huge deal, as I probably wouldn''t want to deal with the hassle if it could be. I could just see the people trying to force me to mate with their daughters if this ability would be passed on through the blood, not a good thought. Well, at least not for me, I already have enough female problems without adding more to the mix.


    In Trinity, Gifts, Skills, Magic, and Psionics/Spirit Powers could sometimes be "stolen" by observation and practice. The fact that this gift would not be stolen, and could also only be gifted by a true giant, made Giant''s Gait a very difficult Gift to acquire. Not passing through the blood would certainly keep the vultures from circling if they used an appraisal or observation skill to determine my Skills and abilities as well. I had no clue whether they could find out your gifts through such a method, but that was beside the point.


    Thank you, senior.


    I couldn''t help thanking him in my thoughts, as I thought of the amazing gift the giant had given me. He never gave his name, so I decided to thank him in Xianxia style, as it was fairly applicable to Farside''s cultivation based society. After I calmed down from my excitement, I settled back down and fell asleep once more.


    ----------


    The next day I began to explore the city once more. It took some time, but eventually I found one of those items he mentioned. It was hidden behind a painting pretty high up, and if I hadn''t had giant''s gait, I wouldn''t have been able to reach it. It was a surprising find, as it was a human-sized workshop that had stations for any type of crafting, but could pack up into a small cube, the form I found it in initially. This was also a mythical tier artifact, and surprisingly became soul-bound once I used it to see how it worked, on level ground of course.


    According to the information on the item, it could be used for up to Legendary Tier equipment and item creation. This included artifacts, but there were no hints on how to make those as a matter of course. This wasn''t surprising, as such items would generally be a life''s work of a master, and were absolutely not commonplace. If someone could produce many artifacts, it would cause a huge sensation.


    There was not much to the workshop except for it''s ability to store as a single item, and the maximum grade of items it could produce, but it did also have a 10% bonus to the success rate of item and equipment creation. This was actually a very big bonus if you considered the base success rates of things like artifacts, but it could also be considered a small bonus considering the help system stated that 25% was the highest bonus possible. Crafting artifacts were extremely rare, so 10% bonuses on such items were equally rare, even if it wasn''t the best value of 25%. So, it was quite the awesome find if I learned to craft, but somewhat useless if I did not. The artifact was unique in that it could be used by others despite being soul-bound, but the bonus was supposedly reduced, though the item description did not say by how much.


    After verifying what I currently could about the <<Mobile Artifact Workshop>>, as it was called, and storing it within the ring, I began to search the city once again. There were so many buildings it was difficult to judge where I should go. As such, I went into each building one by one and marked them off as I went. Each building was carefully searched, as I had learned from the building with the workshop that things would likely be hidden and in places that could not normally be reached by humans, or races their size. I even went back over buildings I had already searched as a precaution against missing items.


    After searching the whole day, I hadn''t even covered 1/12th of the city due to going back over the territory I had already gone over. This city was literally gigantic, and so I began my days of searching the city for items that had been left behind. There were not many items left in this city, and I guessed that the good items had been almost picked clean, leaving behind only items that were in places humans usually couldn''t reach. I had no idea if anyone had actually come here before, but based on the text from my main quest, I had a strong hunch that others had come here before.


    On the fourth day of searching, I found another item. It was in an incredibly difficult place to reach, even with Giant''s Gait. Up on a chandelier hanging from the ceiling of a giant dome sat a crystal that provided the light for the chandelier. This wasn''t some huge treasure, but would certainly come in handy when searching dark places. It might even have some special ability that would allow it to be used for an attack, but I doubted it.


    It took me a while to figure out a plan that might work, there were three points that could act as ledges for my ascent. These three points were approximately the same distant apart as the painting had been from where I started last time. The moment I stepped onto the first of the ledges, a window appeared.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>A special quest has been received: Time Challenge - The Crystal of Light


    Gather the crystal of light before the darkness invades, otherwise you will be unable to use the crystal''s powers.


    Time Limit: 30 seconds


    Reward:


    Radiant Orb


    Victory Conditions:


    Gather the crystal before the time limit runs out


    Failure conditions:


    Do not reach the crystal in time


    Fall to the ground and die


    Failure results:


    Gathered item becomes a Shadow Orb


    +5% experience required per level</td></tr></tbody></table>


    This was going to be a hassle. I quickly activated Giant''s Gait and stepped to the second ledge. Looking around, I saw dark shadows squirming out from the floors and walls, and extending toward the chandelier. It was like a horror movie was unfolding before my own eyes as I looked around. Seeing that sight I could do nothing else, and hurried onward. Everything was fine on the second ledge, but when I made my step to the third ledge I must have misjudged the distance to reach it. I began to fall, and if not for my  quick reaction I would have fallen to the floor below. I had trouble getting up, and by the time I had done so time was running short.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Time remaining: 7 seconds</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I hurriedly judged the distance, and made a leap of faith, managing to reach the chandelier a ways away from the crystal, the darkness was writhing around me as I hurriedly rushed forward. In response the darkness also began to attack me as I hastily moved onward.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Time remaining: 3 seconds</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I hurriedly ran toward the crystal, putting forth my full efforts, constantly seeing damages flash before my eyes was quite disconcerting and I wondered if I''d even be able to make it. Just as the shadow was about to invade the objective, I reached for and grabbed the crystal!


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have succeeded in gathering the Crystal of Light before it could be invaded by the Darkness. Shadows are quaking in fear at the light shockwave the crystal released when you touched it, and have begun to recede. They will no longer attack you due to their intense fear of that light. The Spirit of the Crystal wishes to gift you with a special gift for your efforts to protect the Crystal!


    Thanks to your valiant efforts the Spirit of the Crystal of Light was protected from the darkness. As a result it wishes to bless you with a gift.


    Will you accept this gift? Yes/No</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I thought for a moment, then pressed on Yes.


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a new Gift.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Gift - Class Title: Guardian of Light(Unique)


    The Guardian of light is a unique magic class that focuses on defense. It is similar to a Paladin, but with no offensive bonuses against shadows. They wear light armor, and none wear heavier, but when set as a secondary or tertiary class-title the Guardian of Light will not restrict any armors or equipment usable by the main class-title.


    As a guardian of light, you gain special bonuses in defence against darkness based abilities and magic. The blessing of the Spirit of Light also gives bonuses to Healing and Light based magics. With this Unique magic class, you have a choice in whether to specialize in Healing or Light magics, or you can leave them equally strong.


    Do you with to specialize in Healing, or Light Magic?


    Healing/Light/Evenly strong</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I looked at the window for a while before finally deciding. It was tempting to leave them equally strong, but in the end I decided to go with the Healing specialization.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.*Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have chosen to specialize in healing magic. This will be reflected in your class title''s bonuses.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have gained a new class title, do you wish to make this your main class title, or remain with the Classless class as your main class title and set Guardian of Light as a secondary class title?


    Keep classless as main class title/ Change main class title to Guardian of Light</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I chose to set it as a tertiary class title.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>This will affect the bonuses of the Guardian of Light class title, do you still wish to take this choice? You can rearrange class titles in the Character Screen if you decide you would like to choose another Main Class Title.


    Yes/No</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Once again I chose to set it as a tertiary class, as these classes could be hidden. I decided to look at the information for the Guardian of Light class title, and opened the window.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Class Title: Guardian of Light(Unique)(Healing Specialization)


    The Guardian of Light is a mage specialized in defending against the darkness, and healing. It also has a special connection to the light, and can use magic of the light element.


    Class Title Bonuses:


    +50% Healing Magic Compatibility


    +30% Light Magic Compatibility


    Ability: Healing Magic accessible


    Ability: Light Magic accessible


    +10 Defense, +1 per level


    +5 Defense vs. Shadow Magic, +2 per level


    +5 Defense vs. Dark Magic, +2 per level</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I was quite surprised by the bonuses of this class, and intrigued by the mention of compatibility in relation to a class title. I suppose it wouldn''t do to not add that though, as not having the appropriate compatibility for the magics of the types related to the class title would make it essentially useless. It was essential to have the correct compatibilities in the case of a skill, magic, or ability. I supposed it was even more so in the case of Special or Unique classes, where there would be special skills, spells, or abilities only available to that specific class. These abilities and skills would likely only become available to learn at specific levels and when the proper levels of compatibility were present, making it important to have a bare minimum of compatibility for the class.


    In the case of magic classes, I didn''t think it would do to not have the proper magic types available. I had no clue how magic worked on Farside despite the classes I had taken, it was rather mysterious how no one had leaked any information on the magic of Farside. I hoped that magic could be done without incantation, but I had no clue how it worked. Little did I know that my hopes would be crushed, at least for a majority of my early life on the planet.


    There was another thing that confused me, both in the previously trapped room and here I had managed to survive the challenges despite believing I should not have been able to do so. As I fiddled around with my logs, I found the cause. There were numerous instances of damages missing both in this last challenge, and in the trapped room. These missed damage counterparts were mostly shown in the timeframe where the icy winds were present in the trapped room, and when the shadows were doing their repeated damages, but also showed with quite a number of fireballs when I could only think I was running out of the pedestal room.


    Anyhow, you may wonder what happened to the shadows and darkness that attacked me while I was scrambling to grab the crystal had gone, but they had disappeared the instance I grabbed the Crystal of Light earlier. I still wondered about what was causing the missed damages, so while I was setting there I decided to go through the help menus and see what I could find while I was still seated on the chandelier, forgive me for not mentioning that I had sat down please. I found a plausible explanation when I went through the in-game information on what each stat did.


    It turned out that the stat that encompassed Luck and Blessing actually gave a bonus to the ability to resist elemental damage. This resistence chance was surprisingly high against DoT damages, but not as effective versus one time damages, so it showed up more while I was under the effects of the icy wind and the shadows'' continuous attacks. I assumed that both were some form of DoT effect''s damage, as this was the only working explanation I could come up with.


    While waiting for my health to recover, I continued to look through the stats and what the game actually stated they did. In the end, I found some interesting things, but I''ll leave explaining those things for when their explanation is actually needed.


    I did learn that on Farside everyone had a Spirit Power Reservoir, but there was also the possibility of the characters who began their lives there starting with either a Martial Power Reservoir, Mana Reservoir, or both. These reservoirs had their own bonuses that were similar to the main stats, but there were more factors involved with them. One factor was the reservoir''s initial capacity, as well as the level of the reservoir. Health and Stamina were the most affected by the Martial Power Reservoir, Psion count was the most affected by the Spirit Power reservoir, and Mana was of course most affected by the Mana Reservoir. This was not all these three affected, but they were the stats most affected by the reservoirs. It didn''t state any ratios or anything like that, but I supposed I could learn more about that on Farside itself.


    Once my health had recovered, I made my way to where I could jump back to the top ledge, then began my descent using Giant''s Gait. It took me a bit longer this time, as I wasn''t panicking to complete a quest. I therefore was not distracted from looking downward, especially when the ledges I was jumping to were at a decidedly downward angle, so it was a bit worrisome to make the jumps. It''s not like I was particularly afraid of heights, but it wasn''t like I had a sturdy cliff or hill that would be under me the entire time. Jumping off that chandelier was particularly stifling as there was only the arm of the apparatus below me, and nothing else, but even the jumps to the different ledges were a bit harrowing after misjudging the distance on the way up. Reaching the floor, I rested for a bit before beginning my search of the city once more.


    ----------


    Over the course of the next 8 days I gradually searched the rest of the city for any treasures. I had a strange feeling there was at least one more treasure here, and continued to search carefully. It wasn''t until the third from the last building in my search that I found a clue. In one of the buildings was a wall that was someone off from the rest of the buildings walls. This wall had writing on it that was in the form of calligraphy. I carefully looked and tried to read it, and it gradually became clear.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Light will show the way.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    *Ding*


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a mandatory sub-quest: Hidden Agenda


    Within the giant''s city once remained many treasures, but there remain only a few. Solve the ten riddles, and perhaps you will find one such treasure.


    Solve the Riddles:


    First Riddle


    Second Riddle


    Third Riddle


    Fourth Riddle


    Fifth Riddle


    Sixth Riddle


    Seventh Riddle


    Eighth Riddle


    Ninth Riddle


    Tenth Riddle


    Rewards:


    Unknown.


    Unknown


    Unknown


    Victory Condition(s):


    Solve all riddles


    Loss Condition(s):


    Fail to discover the answer to even one riddle


    Die before completion of sub-quest</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A quest pop-up appeared, and I found myself staring incredulously. Weren''t these loss conditions a bit harsh? I mean, it''s 10 riddles, not 3 or 4, that''s not so easy if they get difficult.


    This first riddle was already a bit confusing, so I could only sit there thinking for a bit while I looked around. The room I was in had a rather dreary atmosphere, and there was a great deal of shadow surrounding the lighted area I was standing in. It was as a was looking around that it hit me, I had the Crystal of Light, the <<Radiant Orb>>. Couldn''t that be the "light" to guide the way?


    It was a bit suspicious that there was that correlation, but I didn''t think too much about it and simply pulled out the orb from my inter-spacial storage. As soon as the light from the <<Radiant Orb>> reached the shadows surrounding the room, an arrow pathway, which was hiding in the shadows never reached by the outside sun, was revealed leading into an obscure corner of the room and through a previously hidden hallway.


    Like I thought.


    Thinking that it was understandable, I began to walk down into the hallway that ran down a slope and follow the arrowed path until I came to a semi-circular room with three entrances in the single straight wall. The arrows ended there, and I began to look around for a riddle. I didn''t see it at first, but once I looked up I saw a riddle going over the 3 entrances on the ceiling.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>What Age is a man in his fifth Prime?</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Looking at the entrances, each had a number above them, from the left, the numbers were 3, 7, and 4. I thought about it for a while before I realized the answer.


    Prime? Wasn''t there an Old Earth term for that? Let''s see, I think it was numbers that are only divisible by 1 and itself. The third prime number. . . 1, 2, 3, 5, 7. So the number should be 7.


    I decided on the answer, and began following the middle path as it wound through the darkness. The path didn''t only wind left and right, but up and down as well, seemingly at random. It was like it was designed to confuse the person following it so that they couldn''t find the end point by other means besides the riddles. I continued following, not really being interested in going back down here if at all possible. I eventually came to another set of entrances with a riddle, only this time the room was round with an exit at each 90 degree angle. Finding this riddle once more took a while before I found it following the equivalent of a door trim that was around the path I just exited.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>A boy and a Doctor went fishing. The boy was the doctor''s son, but the doctor wasn''t the boy''s father. Who is the Doctor.


    Step-father/Mother/Step-mother</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The other three entrances once again had an answer, but they followed the same format as the riddle itself. The problem was these three answers were all proper answers for it as far as I was concerned.


    Let''s see, I they all seem right, as all of them aren''t technically the boy''s father. We can rule out the step-father because it has the word father in it, even if technically it could be considered not his father. The next one is more difficult. . . Waiting, I think I''ve seen this riddle before, but it didn''t have multiple answers. Where was it? Home. . On an old earth style hard drive. . It was. . Oh! I remember, it was mother! Both fit, but as far as blood goes Mother is the answer, and that was the answer to the riddle back then!


    I began to follow the next pathway, and eventually come to another room. This room was a bit different. . . WHO AM I KIDDING?! It was a lot different! The room was covered in huge webs with strands the size of twine, and made large enough for a gargantuan spider! The webs covered most of the room, and it was bad enough I couldn''t even see a riddle, or the new entrances, let alone the answers to the riddle.


    "Well, what have we here, a tasty little morsel. He''ll make a good snack."


    A chill ran up my spine as i hard an unhuman voice speak from behind me. Turning about mechanically, I found a giant, hairy arachnid, or spider if you will, moving toward me as if stalking prey. If I didn''t have the protection toward attacks from the quest for the gift, I would certainly have stood stock still trembling in terror, or worse yet running it fear and getting stuck in the webs behind me.


    "Rather brave for a mere morsel aren''t we? Yes, I think you''ll make a wonderful snack, just wonderful. . . Eh? I can''t attack?"


    The spider''s attacks stopped approximately 3 feet from me, her webs were even worse as they stopped 6 feet away from me. The spider gave me a serious look, and I felt a strong sensation, like being scanned. It was a stimulation I had felt when talking to the giant before I gained Giant''s Gait, so I supposed it was some kind of . The spider''s eyes widened immediately after.


    ''How did a level 1 get into the Celestial Realms? Is that . . . a quest? Gather Gifts. . . Well, I suppose I could give you a gift if you''d like,'' She said in a self-conceited tone.


    I shook my head and replied, ''No thanks, I was told to be careful whom I trust to give me gifts.''


    She quickly became angry. ''What, I''m not good enough for you,'' She spoke in a huff, responding with telepathy. ''Wait, a human can use Telepathy?''


    ''I''m not a human, I''m, half Angaellis and Half Daemonis,'' I told her. ''As for how I can use Telepathy, it is due to the quest that I am on and the fact that I am mute.''


    ''Could you please stop that stuttering? It''s giving me a headache.''


    ''Believe me, if I could I would,'' I responded, ''Unfortunately there''s nothing I can do about it.''


    ''Ugh, well, if there''s nothing you can do about it...'' She didn''t seem too happy with my response. ''So, about my offer. . . I''ll even let you choose the bonus. I promise I won''t include anything bad, I''d hate for my reputation to be tarnished. I may ambush and use poison, but that''s just a matter of survival and my natural gifts. It would only serve to ruin my reputation if I were to trick and bully such a weakling. Some might not think twice about it, but I hate those who do that. . . So, will you accept a choice of one of three bonuses?''


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The Spider Empress Allaenonocuothanu has offered you the choice of one of three gifts. Do you wish to see the possibly gifts?


    Yes/No</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ''Fine, I''ll take a look, but I can''t promise I''ll take anything,'' I finally responded after debating with myself.


    ''Hehe, I like me a brave man,'' she responded. ''If I wasn''t a spider I''d definitely have my eyes on you. Anyway, here are your choices.''


    Immediately, five windows appeared in front of me.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Choose your Gift. Remember, you can only choose one.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Gift - Spider Fangs - Cathuenon Magic Spider - Legendary tier skill - Level 1(0.00%)


    The Cathuenon Magic Spiders secrete a deadly bacterial venom none can withstand for long. Their bacterial agent is so powerful their victims last no more than a few moments before they die. As it is a poison created within the host''s body, it will not cause harm to it''s user.


    Effects:


    +30 infection damage per second


    Duration:


    5 Nits(Seconds)


    Cost: 25 Stamina</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Gift - Thousand Immunity - Super Rare tier ranked trait - Upgradable - Rank 1/10(0.00%)


    The legendary Thousand Immunity is a trait that protects the owner from all poisons up to a certain threshhold. This trait does not affect poisons above the Super Rare Tier without using a special process to upgrade the trait.


    Bonuses:


    Immunity to all poisons at or below the Super Rare Tier up to level 10.


    20% chance to resist poisons above level 10 so long as they are at or below the Super Rare Tier


    5% chance to resist poisons up to level 10 that are above the Super Rare Tier</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Gift - Wisdom of Ananci - Rare Trait


    Ananci the Trickster, one of the many spirits of Farside and Patron Saint of Spiders, is well known for his cunning and wisdom and is not quite the same as his counterpart from Old Earth, Anansi. This trait gives the owner a bonus to their Mind score as it represents Ananci''s Wisdom.


    Bonuses:


    +10% Mind score


    Additional Mind Focus - Wisdom


    +2% Experience earned (experience points are rounded up to the next whole number)


    Additional effects:


    As Ananci loves riddles, sometimes answers to riddles will be lit up in the eyes of the owner of this gift.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>None - Reject a gift.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I looked at the windows for a long while, debating with myself whether I should even take a Gift or not, before finally deciding to do so. The only problem was that I now needed to narrow down which to take. I didn''t want the poison skill. That skill was just too dangerous for my future mother, and I didn''t like the idea. So, there were only two choices left, the Thousand Immunity, or the Wisdom of Ananci. This was a much harder choice. So far, I had been quite lucky that the riddles fit my knowledge, but that was not a given. On the other hand, Thousand Immunity could certainly come in handy as there were a great many poisons in the world of Farside, if the name of the skill was any indicator.


    ''Hahaha, you look like you''re having a hard time deciding,'' Allea, as I decided to refer to her in shortening her name, told me, ''Have you narrowed it down at all?''


    ''I don''t want the spider fangs, too dangerous for my future mother.''


    ''Ah, I had forgotten about that, but the fangs don''t secrete the poison unless you wish them to so it''s no danger for your mother to be,'' she explained. I could almost see the sly grin on her face were she to be a human.


    ''Now you''re just making it harder again. Forget it, I don''t want the fangs, despite how nice the poison is.''


    ''Hehe! So it''s one of the other two then? Does your conundrum have something to do with the ancient writings that were in this room,'' she asked me.


    I sat there for a moment, debating on if I should answer, but eventually nodded.


    ''Hmmm, then how about this, I can allow you to take two positive Gifts, but you will have to accept a trait with negative effects, but I''ll make those small. Hrmmmmm . . . Here''s the negative trait.''


    The next moment a window showed up once again.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The Spider Empress Allaenonocuothanu has offered you three gifts, please confirm if you wish to take them.


    Yes/No</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Thousand Immunity


    Wisdom of Ananci


    Gift - Parallel Thought Processing - Inferior - Uncommon Trait - Rank 1/5(0.00%)(Upgradable)


    This Trait gives the ability to use parallel thought processing, but as it is an inferior version of the trait it comes with some side effects. This trait can be upgraded, reducing negative effects and increasing positive effects. Superior and standard versions of this trait grant the same number of parallel thought processes per rank, but give additional bonuses. The Superior version can use parallel thoughts for much longer before migraines occur.


    Bonuses:


    Can use 1 addition parallel thought process per skill rank


    Negatives:


    Causes Migraine Headaches when processing multiple lines of thought for more than 30 Nits(seconds). Migraines will last for 5 hours once they take effect. Migraine duration reduces by 30 minutes per trait rank.


    Can be upgraded or replaced by finding a more complete or better tier parallel thought trait.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ''That, isn''t that quite a useful trait, even if it gives migraines when you use the parallel thoughts for too long?''


    ''It depends on your viewpoint, migraines are no fun after all. This is however the best trait I have as far as not giving too many negatives,'' she responded. ''Just be aware that the Migraine''s strength will increase the longer you go past 30 nits, and I advise you absolutely don''t go beyond 1 cron(Minute) unless your death is certain anyway. The migraines beyond 1 cron(minute) are absolutely excruciating and you may die from shock.''


    ''Understood. . . Then, I will accept these gifts,'' I told her, and pressed the yes button.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Total Gifts acquired:5/32</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ''Now, you were looking for those writings in the room?''


    Yes, they''re part of a riddle,'' I explained.


    ''I was wondering why you would come to my lair, but I can see why you had trouble choosing when the Gifts were presented to you,'' she replied, suddenly understanding my trouble. ''I can''t read the languages of the races that are born sentient, but I vaguely understood they might be a riddle.''


    ''I''m surprised you gave me a choice, or even offered a Gift in the first place,'' I told her.


    ''Well, you didn''t show a disgusted look when you first saw me, although you did seem a bit worried,'' she explained, ''That gave me a very good impression of you, as it''s the first time anyone, or any beast, has ever reacted like that upon seeing my appearance. So, I decided to give you a Gift or two.''


    ''To be honest, part of that was the fact that you couldn''t actually attack me,'' I said ashamedly.


    ''Naturally, if I could have attacked, you wouldn''t still be around and I would have had a snack by now. I''m seriously starving,'' she told me with a wry thought.


    ''Can''t you just go grab a bite to eat outside the city?''


    ''Naturally, I am the Empress of Spiders after all. . . If I could get out that is,'' she replied. ''I can''t go out through the city, and I can''t remember the path I took to get in here. Maybe if you could help me find the way out I could, but it would be more dangerous than a walk in the forest. It wasn''t on the main path, and all the side paths have large numbers of booby-traps.''


    A sense of responsibility arose within me, despite the fact that I hadn''t been the cause of her troubles.


    ''You''ve already helped me. Once I complete this sub-quest I will come back here and start looking for the way out for you.''


    ''Is that really alright?''


    ''Yes, I''m a sojourner, so I won''t truly die here, though I will experience a "Death" and be out cold for a while, but that''s acceptable if it will help you,'' I assured her.


    ''Then I will have to take you up on your offer. If you can manage to help me, I may even give you another Gift,'' she told me in a seriously teasing tone.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received a Sub-quest: Labyrinthine Passages - Common


    The Queen of Spiders, Allaenonocuothanu, has been trapped within the passages under the giant''s city for a long time. Help her leave the passages so she can hunt for food. Allaenonocuothanu has agreed to let you complete your current sub-quest before beginning this sub-quest.


    Rewards:


    Unknown


    Time Limit:


    none


    Failure Conditions:


    Refusal to help Allaenonocuothanu leave the tunnels, and the city they are below.


    Death of Allaenonocuothanu</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ''I think I can last a week before I am too weak to hunt,'' Allea informed me. ''By that time I need you to have finished the current quest and help me find the way out of here or I''m a goner. I''ll remove my webbing in preparation for the move, and so you can move on with your riddles.''


    ''Thanks Allea,'' I stuttered out as per usual.


    ''Allea?''


    ''Um, yeah, it''s a nickname for you,'' I explained. ''I just shortened your name to a form I could remember easily. I hope you don''t mind.''


    ''Well, it''s not like I don''t, but . . . It''s acceptable,'' she replied in a bashful tone.


    It was certainly interesting seeing how her body acted while she was thinking these things, and I began to understand her gestures as we conversed. Each type of movement of her limbs, fangs, and eyes meant something different. Things like certain groups of hairs moving seemed to have specified meanings, even to my untrained eyes. Of course, I''m not saying I could understand her without the telepathy at this point, but at least I could start on my path to understanding.


    Just now, her fangs moved in a way that totally said bashful to me, it made me want to get to know her more. I was quite interested in coming to understand how her race thinks, and how that translates into their body language. I certainly didn''t understand the Celestial Realms, and having a being who lived there around would certainly help me in avoiding potential dangers.


    Hmmm. . . ''Allea, once I manage to complete this quest and get you out of here, do you want to travel with me? I mean, at least while I''m in the Celestial Realms?''


    ''Ugh, traveling with a human? Well, since it''s you, I''ll think about it,'' she said, sounding quite unlikely to do so. ''If anyone else among the alliance races asked me that I''d absolutely refuse, you know.''


    ''Why''s that?''


    I was a bit surprised, but I thought back to the wording of the main quest, and wanted to know more.


    ''It''s a long story,'' she replied seriously. ''Once you finish your riddles I''ll tell you the reasons most of the beasts in the Celestial Realms won''t be happy, or willing, to help a member of your alliance races. I need some time to think and organize everything, so get on with your quest, and I''ll tell you afterward.''


    Allea swiftly moved webbing to allow me to see the riddle, answers, and the associated passages into the next area. Strangely enough, even before I read the riddle, an answer lit up with a green light surrounding the panel above a door. I was quite taken aback, and Allea must have seen the look on my face, as she spoke to me.


    ''I''m guessing you''re seeing a green light surrounding one of the answers.''


    ''Um, yeah, how''d you know,'' I couldn''t help asking.


    ''It''s written all over your face,'' she replied in an exasperated tone, and surprisingly showing a similarly exasperated look. ''That''s the Wisdom of Ananci taking effect. It will lead you to the correct answer. Usually it will only respond once you understand the riddle and it''s possible answers, but sometimes it answers before even reading the riddle. That is, of course, only in the case of written, multiple choice riddles. For riddles with no listed answers, you will either feel, or hear, the answer instead.''


    ''Ah, I understand now,''  I answered back. ''Well, I''ll be going.''


    ''Hurry back,'' Allea replied, almost like a wife seeing her husband off, but her next words totally threw that vibe out the window. ''I''m soooo hungry, I could eat a dragon.''


    With that as a sort of send off, I followed the correct path, and headed toward the next room.