Grey knew that some peacekeepers disliked their forced subjugation. They complained about being forced into mind-manipulating Earth's population, complained about the taskmaster Lepochim.

He just didn't care.

'COTD has done more good than I have in...' Grey's mental train of thought faltered; he had lost count years ago of his age. He sighed, then surveyed the barren, gray wasteland that everyone called Lime World. He walked along the ridges of the steppes, wriggling his toes in the hard soil underfoot. He never liked shoes, though used them out of necessity. His feet no longer ached, their metal-like durability superior to any shoe of old.

Few people had explored Lime World, content to stay inside the growing city-seeds. Unfortunately, Lime World's aesthetic didn't meet human standards of natural beauty: lime-green pools of caustic acid and volcanic rock weren't picturesque. Even though tree-like organisms with immense, feather-leafed branches sparsely covered some regions, these, too, were unremarkable.

As Grey stepped, each footfall led him closer to his goal. For much of his life, Grey relied on his kursi abilities to perceive reality. Only upon entering self-imposed seclusion did he develop his awareness of the world in a physical sense: the feel of silty earth, the smell of torrential rain, the sound of silent caves.

With COTD, he seized the opportunity to elevate these senses further.

As Grey walked, his eyes fixed on the darks of his lids, he created a mental map of the immense complex of labyrinths below Lime World.

"Bet Virigard would love these tunnels," Grey grumbled to himself. Thud. Thud. Thud. 'Path points well spent,' he noted. The vibrations from his feet on the ground, his body in the air, all but precluded the need for vision.

After several hours of walking, Grey halted his advance. He opened his eyes, their piercing gaze affixed to Dean's new city-seed, Snakeseed. He stomped, cognizant that the vibrations would carry to the jerboa hideout below. A few seconds later, a small jerboa popped out of the ground.

Grey's expression turned grim. 'They all look the same,' he growled internally. This jerboa could be Virigard or anyone else. The only jerboa Grey identified on sight was Amalo...and only because the sapient had the habit of crossing his arms and wore a cowboy hat.

"Hello, Grey!" the little jerboa piped up. Grey's expression eased somewhat. 'Definitely not a jerboa I've met.'

"Hello, little one. What's your name?"

The jerboa's eyes shined. "Tycho!"

Grey's mouth ever-so-slightly curved into a half-grin. He gestured out with his left hand. "Adventure?"

The jerboa cocked his head. "Adventure?" However, Grey was already walking away. The jerboa bounded after him, tail wagging in time with his leaps. "Where?"

Grey grunted. "Follow."

"You don't like to speak much, do you?" Tycho rambled. "I heard all about Grey from others. They said that--"

"Shh," Grey hushed, voice barely audible.

Tycho eyes grew wide as he swiveled his head from side to side. "Here? Is the adventure happening nearby? Is there danger?"

Grey rolled his eyes up and around to the left. "No." He looked down at Tycho. "What do you hear?"

"Uhhh..."

Grey sighed. "You've got enormous ears. You must hear something."

Tycho gulped. "Just, the, uhhh, wind. And us walking. And maybe a little bit of noise from Snakeseed."

"Keep listening." Grey picked up the pace, his casual walk taking him over increasingly greater distances, despite the fact that his strides appeared the same length.

"H-" Tycho tried to ask, "How do you do that?" but was, unsurprisingly, cut off with a sharp hiss. Recoiling, he studied Grey's gait and tried to emulate it in his own. The task proved especially difficult because a human stride and a jerboa hop have little in common, though Tycho gave the task his all.

Concentrating on his leaping enabled Tycho to fall into a steady rhythm. As the world faded to the background, Tycho began to sense more of it.

When Grey finally stopped, Tycho had to dig his claws into the Earth to stop himself from progressing further. The action abruptly snapped Tycho out of his moment and one-ness with his surroundings, striking him with vertigo.

"Wha-at?" he asked, sounding somewhat dazed. "Did we arrive?"

Grey nodded. "Do you feel it?"

Tycho smashes his teeth together. 'Feel what?' He thought back to what Grey said before: to use his ears to listen. The same could apply to vibrations, using his ears to pick them up. However, the wind lacked any distinctive properties. Tycho subconsciously gave Grey a dejected expression, his ears drooping.

Grey tsked, then pointed a finger at the ground. Tycho let out a sharp, "Oh!" He immediately fell to the gritty ground below, the soil unexpectedly grainy, like sand instead of hard-packed earth or rock. He pressed both ears flat on the ground, then listened, desperately trying to tune out the sound of his rapidly-thrumming heartbeat.

Grey stomped his foot on the ground. Tycho heard/felt the vibrations move through the soil...and into emptiness. His head snapped up, though upon seeing Grey's imperious expression, Tycho self-corrected the rash behavior and resumed his ears-to-the-ground posture. Grey's foot fell again. This time, Tycho knew what to listen for.

"Tunnels," he breathed.

"Right," Grey responded. "Can you dig down?"

Tycho nodded. Within thirty seconds, a thin chute led from the surface down into the tunnel before. Grey jumped down as soon as the digging stopped, joining Tycho in the dark.

"The adventure's here," Grey said softly as he padded forward through the passageway, going left. "Keep alert. We don't know what made these."

Tycho took the command to heart, puffing up his little chest in the dark. Grey only perceived this through his enhanced senses; to anyone else, the endearing gesture would have been lost.

Grey emitted a tiny cough, a real smile working its way across his features. Here, in the lightless tunnels beneath Lime World's surface, such gestures didn't matter...wouldn't give false impressions.

---

Lisa and Bath looked at each other once, then, expressions stony, the duo sped towards the white mountain ahead.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"We don't even know this city's name," Lisa murmured, admiring the majesty of the city's ornate edifices. "I never even thought to ask."

"Illusta," Bath said, voice devoid of emotion. He'd naturally overheard the city's name during their previous visit. "I'm not sure if that's translated." The city's name sounded particularly similar to the word, "illustrious."

Lisa sounded the word out. "Illusta. It reminds me more of the word, 'illustrate.' The city reminds me of something out of a storybook."

Bath glanced her way, a smile making its way over his features. "I see it."

They traveled the rest of the way in silence, spirits somewhat elevated by their conversation. As soon as Lisa came within range of Juserin, she felt the man's mental presence tightly folded in on itself, as though his mental aurora had compressed into a tight, impregnable ball. Lisa frowned, then tested the same kind of compression on her own shell. Compared to the shielding technique before, Lisa realized that Juserin and his kursi had all used "politely weak" shields. This technique was much more effective. The fact that the kursi back on Earth had only ever used the "politely weak" kind of shield indicated to Lisa that this was a fairly advanced technique.

She wondered, then, just why mimicking Juserin was so...simple. 'Is it my boons?' she wondered, mind gravitating to her teaching and artist boons. She resolved to find out later.

While Lisa couldn't detect anything concrete from Juserin's shell, nor could she influence it in any way, the same went for Juserin. Even if Lisa's shell was completely open, she had the sense that this absolute defense prevented the user from any kind of mental offense. She bemoaned his use of the shield: Juserin sensing her intentions, and she his, might diffuse the situation's tension.

Lisa and Bath decided, without words, to go to Juserin's front door, both in tune with the other's thoughts. Bath nodded his head as Lisa lifted a hand to the door in preparation to knock. Juserin's shell hadn't moved since it had come into Lisa's perception, thought the time between then and now was only a few seconds. Lisa swallowed, then bit her cheek to stimulate her saliva glands.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Is he not going to move?" Bath wondered out loud, his essence already having infiltrated the house. He saw that Juserin was currently sitting ramrod straight in his office, his body's fluids circulating rapidly. His two arms lay folded against his torso, while his feet draped lightly down from his seat, touching the floor. He wore a standard verdora robe that covered his whole body, though, interestingly enough, the sash that covered his two mouths was gone. Bath wondered absently if this was symbolic.

"Juserin," Lisa boomed, her director-enhanced voice penetrating the residence's thick walls. "We come bearing no ill will. We swear upon the honor of the dead and fallen." This saying was one that Lisa found scouring verdora culture on the encyclopedia.

Silence, aside from light breathing. Then, the sound of footfalls as Juserin walked forward on four limbs. The door opened.

"No ill will." Juserin said this sadly, eyes drooping, his mouths parted to reveal two rows of serrated teeth each. The verdora was obviously thinner, his robe hanging off his frame instead of fitting it perfectly. Lisa wondered just low long Juserin had been alone in his house. He didn't strike Lisa as the kind of sapient who would be able to cook or prepare food himself. Lisa figured that, to her mild horror, Juserin probably hadn't eaten in days, ever since he sent his servants away.

"We promise," Lisa assured him, stepping into the opened threshold. Bath followed behind her, stepping lightly over the floor.

Juserin looked at Bath. "Who is this sapient?"

Lisa blinked, then remembered that she looked different than before. She glanced at Bath, eyebrows furrowed in uncertainty.

Bath smiled serenely. "This is Lisa, who you met before. When we visited last, I regret to say that we hid our identities."

Juserin crossed his two primary arms, as though huddling against a fierce cold. "Did you?" He said the words without accusation. His eyes kept their sad, enervated air.

"We did," Bath continued. "We needed to confirm that you fit into our plan."

"Plan?"

Lisa thought that Juserin sounded incredibly tired, as though each breath were a great strain on his person. Seeing him this way sent her stomach into a coiled knot nearly as dense as her shell. She was thankful that Bath had taken over speaking, even if she told him not to interfere. Seeing Juserin so diminished had thrown her off from the start.

"Lisa and I wish to ensure the self-determination of every sapient in this universe," he stated calmly, eyes newly alight with fiery intent. "Sapients have fought for millions, billions of years to destroy systems of oppression," he added. "And yet, we still have deplorable powers like Akila Galaxy. We remain beholden to the might of the Core Worlds. Most sapients live unfulfilling lives, beholden to corporate powers and capital interests."

All these things, while not the whole truth, were true. Lisa and the wasps had delved into the encyclopedia to gain a general understanding of the state of affairs in the universe, leading them to a better understanding of universal economics and typical sapient lives.

Juserin's expression started to shift, his skin blue-ing slightly. "And why change this?"

Bath's smile became icy. "Why settle for plugging the leaks and cracks of the universe?"

"So you're suggesting that we solve all problems, everywhere," Juserin muttered, eyes frenzied in stark contrast to their dead look before. "I came here, alone, because this world doesn't have nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction. Having them is, you understand, an insurance liability." He paused, as though regaining his thoughts. "What you speak of...is utterly beyond your means. Your planet doesn't even have space travel."

Lisa resisted the urge to correct Juserin, justifying to herself that to Juserin, "space travel" probably didn't count being able to visit Earth's moon, especially considering the high-tech functionalities of Juserin's voyager.

Bath somewhat agreed with Juserin's reply. This was, at its core, Lisa's vision. He was still pessimistic that this plan would work out in its entirety, even with his many boons and COTD's abundant supply of kursi. However, he was COTD's Dragon: he would play that role, and play it well.

A quizzical expression appeared on his face. "What did you interpret our message as?" He intentionally avoided calling it an ultimatum.

Juserin's mouths snapped open and closed. "You said that the Church of the Dragon would be coming, whether I surrender or not. You said you wanted me to join, saving my people. I am here."

"Do you understand what that means?" Bath asked, eyes probing, mouth flat.

"No!" Juserin shouted, clearly upset by the situation at hand. "What is a church!?"

Bath glanced at Lisa. While their search of the encyclopedia hadn't found any prominent religions, they had just collectively assumed that this was due to scientific progress. They hadn't even considered that perhaps, on some worlds, they hadn't even been invented.

Bath explained patiently. "A church is an organization that exists to elevate its members while providing a common doctrine of belief. Lisa and I are the deities of the Church of the Dragon."

This seemed to spark a hint of recognition in Juserin's eyes. "You mean...gods?"

Bath was confused by how Juserin could understand "deity" and "god" while having never heard of religion. Regardless, he carried on, smiling. "Precisely." He looked Lisa's way, mouth curling.

'No interference,' she laughed internally. She flared her palms, then rose above the floor. Flames suddenly danced over the air in patterns sketched out by her magnetic field. She adjusted the blast of flame by controlling the minuscule igniters in her palms: isolated, millimeter-sized, bead-shaped rounded-cylinders that could, at will, flip over to reveal normal skin. Lisa specifically sent the flames into a crown around her head, almost like a flaming halo.

She reached out a hand to Bath, who touched his hand to hers. Then, as though the fire passed onto Bath, a similar fiery corona sprang into existence around his now-levitating body. All this happened in the span of three seconds.

Juserin's skin color deepened, eyes shifting horizontally outward in what was clearly an expression of shock. "Real-life gods, from little Earth?" his dual-mouths made his voice at once eerie and unsettling, even as it expressed incredulity. He was clearly resisting the urge to say something along the lines of, "Impossible!" Instead, he watched, with rapt attention, as the flames flickered and danced in shifting patterns around Lisa and Bath.

"Juserin," Bath spoke, breaking the silence, "we want you to join our following. We hope to elevate you and grant you true self-determination..." Bath trailed off, looking expectantly at Lisa.

"Most importantly, we want self-determination for all verdora and sapients under your dominion. We want you to surrender your power to the Church of the Dragon. From there, we can reinstate you as a leader of Illudis within the Church's hierarchy." Lisa's eyes burned with fervor, her resolve already returned after Juserin's initial demoralizing influence.

"You say, swearing upon the honor of the dead and fallen, that you want to subjugate this strand of planets...out of generosity? To grant me, and my people, self-determination? What do you really mean?" Juserin's expression was more subdued, less surprised. However, his words had a bite to them. He was clearly suspicious and unconvinced by Lisa and Bath's flaming display.

"We're going to grant all sapients true freedom," Lisa stated firmly. "We welcome you to join us in this endeavor."

Juserin looked, to Bath's eye, as though he thought they were crazy. However, after a moment of contemplation, his eyes held a new kind of resolve.

"To be frank: I am unconvinced. I doubt that you are both gods, and that you have both mine and my people's best intentions at heart. However, seeing that I have little choice due to my people's lack of defensive weapons..." he took in a deep breath, his mouths opening and closing out of sync. "On their behalf, I submit."