I have to make it a note to never ever put Edwin in charge of making the plans again. Yeah, sure, this is the first time he's ever been at the head of things, but he could at least have some regard for the fact that not everyone can just magically disappear all of their pain. On top of that, the plan involved me getting tied up and carried by Mimicks again, and only me this time. Since Haumea crashed further away and Edwin didn't crash at all, I was the only one the Dokari had seen so far. Sora was in her mimic since we couldn't reveal she'd already taken my form. The goal was to allow the Dokari to take me and get me far away enough from the village before Edwin and the girls would spring me out of there. I'd gotten in my pilot suit too and Sora gave my jacket back to me to show that I'd been wrapped as I'd arrived. Although my arm wasn't broken anymore, I had to at least look like I'd been kept as received.

As the village gates opened, another group of Mimicks slithered on through with three of them already in their changed forms. Crawling on all fours was a hairy ape-looking mammal with huge tusks and beady eyes. Trust me when I say that this thing was huge. I'm pretty sure it could've made a chew toy out of Arjun if it wanted to. Assuming this was the Bandervarren, Belloc, I tried really hard not to pee myself. Flanking it were two humanoid guards with hyena faces carrying stone-tipped spears. "Greetings, oh, great ones," Sora said as she did something I think I could call a bow. "We present to you our offering from the stars above in hopes it pleases you."

"Keep your mouth shut and don't do anything rash," Edwin ordered before. Sure, it was easy for him to say. He wasn't being sized up to be some kind of meal for some Uber predator. The Bandervarren approached slowly as it examined me closely. Unlike the other mimicks, I guessed they hadn't seen a being like me. Remembering how strange Sora found me this could've given us the edge to help the Domri tribe. "A being made of energy," Belloc said as it snifted at me. "It is not completely organic. It smells of the ancient ones who visited us long ago." His interest in me was both great and terrible all at once. "I'm sure Elder Kinan would agree that the ancient ones were powerful. That is power I am willing to acquire... very well whelp... we shall accept your offering." Belloc snarled, and his two guards approached me and picked up the pallet I'd been tied to. Belloc turned toward the gates and began to exit with his guards carrying me in tow. Unbeknownst to my new captors, Edwin and Haumea had been following us. Just as Belloc and the other Mimicksentered the village, Haumea managed to plug into Belloc and the guard's subconscious, manipulating their perception a bit. So even if the Mimicksthat served Belloc could see them, Belloc and his guards could not. Edwin would also erase any trace of sound or footprints they made along the way. As soon as we'd left, Edwin and Haumea.

Nothing would go on the first few miles of the trip, save for some strange buzzing from the forest that seemed close enough to be annoying. Luckily, all I needed was the sun to remain active. "So it has been some time since an ancient one has descended from the stars," Belloc said as we moved through the forest. "Though you are different than the last one." Of course, I was different from Edwin in most ways, but he didn't have to point it out. "We call to come in different shapes and sizes," I said, "You should know something about that, right?" Belloc let out a boisterous laugh that echoed through the forest, "I'm glad you're so calm in your position. I'm even more surprised you were so easy to capture. The female was more belligerent and stronger than you were." Wait... female? That didn't sound right. Haumea wasn't belligerent last time I checked, and other than Laufey, Alice, and Seraph, there were no other female full-blooded Arcadians I knew of besides my mother

"Yes... She was the second ancient one to descend from the skies," Belloc said, "I'm sure she'll be eternally grateful once I hand her over to you, Soran Xenthos." Ok, red flag alert. Another Arcadian being on this planet was one thing, but for him to know my name was another problem altogether. Turning to my right, I saw Edwin and Co. I gave them a look that said, "I'm using the backup plan." Edwin shook his head and waved his arms mouthing, "No, keep him talking." What was there to listen to? There's no way Alice or Seraph would send a big scary apex predator to pick me up. Plus, I was being handed over to them not being rescued. This means there was another Arcadian working for Lucian that we didn't know about. I took in a deep breath, feeling the heat coursing through my body. No matter what, I could not get captured by the Arcana Order.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Asked one of the guards who noticed me looking in a certain direction. "Oh me, I'm not doing anything. I'm just taking a deep breath. Taking another deep breath, I gave Edwin the signal to take cover. As the fire sparked in my mouth, I heard a series of popping noises before a final deafening pop filled the air. The explosion was large it shook the earth beneath us and consumed the two guards completely. The force of the explosion would've caved in my chest if it had not been made of Zoltan steel. But it didn't stop me from hitting the ground with the force of an Aeromobile hitting me. Next, an incessant ringing filled my ears, and I could feel my body healing from the shock. The good thing was that the rope was burned up in the explosion, and I managed to get the two guards at least. The bad thing was that Belloc had been sent flying ahead of us, and he was still breathing. I felt something strike me above the head, and when I looked up, I saw Edwin grabbing me by my jacket and dragging me away from the sight. He'd been saying something, but it was hard to hear him because of the ringing.

When the ringing had finally started to die down, I could hear, "Soran, you Buffon, you'd better snap out of it this instant, or we're all gonna suffer!" I could hear more explosions overhead. It was likely that the air above and surrounding the current burning forest was likely the reason. The noxious gas in this area had been burned up, so for the time being, we were safe from that. "D-Drop me," I said, and Edwin did so. It was a little harder than I'd liked. When I stood to my feet, I brushed the soot off my jacket and suit. Then, when I looked to see Belloc coming right for us, I booked it in the opposite direction. I'd find that Edwin and the girls had also been running as well.

"Yo Edwin, could ya do something about this fire," Haumea yelled as he ran. "I could, but then our friend will be able to pursue even faster." Turning around, we saw that Belloc at least had trouble traversing the current environment. Even though he'd been injured in the blast, he still could pursue us. Though now we had two problems. The first was a rampaging Belloc, and the second was the second we tried to get outside the burning area. we'd probably step into a minefield. As we ran deeper into the forest, I heard a chime ringing in my ears. Then, a notification popped up in my eyesight, detailing that a message was being received. It was from an unknown sender, but it said, "Continue your course. You will arrive at the target point in three minutes. Please continue functioning until then." A friendly in these parts? Relaying the mental message to everyone else, we continued to run until the three minutes had passed. Then, a sudden burst of white mist showered us from above. The flames in the forest had suddenly gone out while more bursts went off over us. in different areas behind Belloc, the flames continued to be put out while the buzzing from earlier grew louder. Then, a sudden energy field deployed around Belloc trapping him inside a contained field.

Another chime rang in my ear, and I'd see the message, "Mission Complete. Please proceed to these coordinates with extreme haste." When I got the nav beacon, I realized it was the location of the unknown signal. I guess they were trying to help us. Seeing Belloc was trapped in a field of flames, Edwin clapped his hand twice. All of the damage to the forest, with the exception of the area surrounding Belloc, suddenly changed. It was like it had not been on fire in the first place. "Soran... the next time you nearly kill us, please be very far away," scolded Edwin as he tried catching his breath.

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R-Right... Anyways, follow me." I led the others directly to where the nav beacon had been placed. It'd be another thirty minutes until we came upon an open field with a lone ship resting on its grounds. It looked damaged but repairable, but I didn't think any of us could really fix it other than Edwin. It didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before, but it was pretty big. It's not as big as the Asterism but big enough to be classified as a dropship of some kind for vehicles. Hearing that buzzing again, from the forest came these spherical drones that flew on by us. They looked as though they were returning to the ship. The ship's main hatch opened and out came another human-like figure. He was clad in damaged armor that covered most of his body, but his chest was exposed to a strange blue sphere that was cracked within. He also had a strange-looking contraption wrapped around his neck with large cables hanging behind him. A lot of him looked pretty artificial save for his face, which looked surprisingly human. He even had a head of gray hair. "Greetings, otherworlders," he called out as he came over to us. "Your arrival has increased the departure coefficient by 34.45%. The current margin is now 48.47% calculated based on the number of individuals within the current vicinity"

"Um... guys... I think this guy is a robot," I pointed out. The robot stopped before us and then remained silent for a moment. "Error, bio scan has detected an anomaly... recalibrating and reinitializing scan." His eyes turned blue with white lines scrolling horizontally as he scanned us. "If the error you're running into is that you see we're Arcadians," Edwin said, "I can assure you it's no error."

"This conclusion... is not impossible," the robot said as it approached me. "Records indicate that the creator species only suffered a casualty rate of 98.82%. Taking in the large quantity of ether radiation between three individuals in this party of four. This unit concludes that three of you are majors." Edwin scratched his chin as he smiled, "Interesting... I hadn't thought you lot survived the war."

"What is it?" I asked as I tried backing up from the Robot. He wasn't letting me go too easily, taking great care in examining me. "This is an Aios, an Artificially Intelligent Organism. He's an Arcadian creation," Edwin said, "We used them as assistants, workers, and soldiers during the days of the Arcadian Empire. I never thought I'd ever see one again."

"Bio Scan complete," said the Aios, "I have recognized Edwin Newton Wainwright among you. As for the other three, I have recognized signs of the Lovers and the Fool markers along with an inhabitant of this planet who has copied the DNA of the Fool. I am Unit Sigma Gamma Upsilon, though I am designated as Yagyuu by my owner."

"Yagyuu? Isn't that a human name?" I questioned. "My owner Freed once saw a human entertainment module that showcased a human displaying a stern and calculating personality. He saw fit to grant me the designation after complaints of my nomenclature being too boring and the new designation suiting me as he put it." I kinda had to agree with his own. But there was something more pressing to talk about there. "Your owner? Meaning there's another like us?" I asked.

"I would normally refuse to disclose such information to unknown variables," Yagyuu said, "But considering that the Lovers have not shown hostility towards Edwin and the Fool. I shall divulge what I know. Please embark on the Astral Comet." Yagyuu turned around and started heading back to his ship. Since he saved us from Belloc and his owner wasn't this female Arcadian, I was getting delivered to it. I guess it was safe. When we got inside, we could see the ship was still under extensive repairs on the inside. It wasn't on fire or anything, but most of the terminals, including the commander's seat, were still in the middle of repairs. What's more, the ship had been running on minimal power, probably to converge energy for Yagyuu's recharging or fuel. It was weird how much larger the ship looked on the inside. Drop ships didn't usually have living quarters in them.

"By the way, the name's Soran," said," Haumea is the lovers, and my lookalike is Sora." I could hear something beep a few times until Yagyuu said, "Acknowledged. Welcome aboard the Astral Comet." As we made it to the bridge, Yagyuu had powered on the main terminal. It displayed the galactic map in detail. Logress II was the third planet from the sun, while Valerion VI was the fourth. Yagyuu told us that currently, we were marooned on Logress II, which was quite a distance from Valerion VI. The only reason he'd been stuck here was due to a core failure. He'd been on a mission to collect materials from one of Valerion's satellites until an asteroid knocked him off course. He crashed here just three months ago in Valerion's time, and he has been stuck ever since. He normally could survive decades without ever needing a recharge, but the Ether core that powered his critical systems was damaged. The apparatus around his neck was a recharger he could connect to the ship's core in order to remain active.

"I assume your ship is beginning to run out of power," guessed Edwin, "With both cores damaged, it's impeded your ability to get off-world." Yagyuu nodded, then turned the monitor off. "Well, what about this departure coefficient you spoke of?" I asked. "It went up when you found us, right?"

"That is correct, Creator Leader Soran... The coefficient was recalculated due to your arrival. This can also change depending on the supplies that survived planetfall." We didn't honestly have much in supplies, but there was one thing we did have that Yagyuu was hurting for. "We've got Ether cores with us," I mentioned. "They're in our Eido-I mean Animus machines." I wasn't sure if Yagyuu could differentiate between the two yet. "If we can bring them here, would they help at all?"

"The Seeker drones I deployed to aid you against the hostile wildlife also have the capability of deploying more than one type of field. One of these fields is an anti-Gravity generator that is used to move vehicles and heavy cargo. Although the issue is acquiring enough ether to power the drones. They are only capable of deploying basic barriers at this time."

"That shouldn't be an issue," I said, "You've got four living batteries here, and I happen to have the right equipment to interface with them." I raised my prosthetic arm. The manipulator's longer digits clamped together, and a small connection port popped out of the palm. "Nothing helps like having a virtual nuclear reactor for an arm," I mused. "Without all the bad radiation, of course."

"Recalculating," Yagyuu chirped. "Departure coefficient has been increased by 25.32%. The current margin is now 73.79% based on the resources the creator species have within their possession. Shall I begin the charging process?" I nodded, then Yagyuu knelt down next to the control console and opened a panel, revealing a port that said "Emergency Power Sharing. "Please insert the connection port here." Doing as he said, I sat down next to the port and plugged into the

"Is there a reason why the Departure coefficient didn't rise closer to 100%?" Asked Edwin as he sat down in the pilot's seat. "The Seeker drones that were deployed to aid you received some information about another creator within this planet. However, given Soran's sudden decision to commence with hostilities, it is safe to say that this particular creator belongs to the heretic order." I guess even the Aios could hold a grudge against Lucian. Yagyuu's analysis wasn't wrong. Sure, we had the supplies and the capability to leave, but that's if our unknown enemy would allow us.

"Please feel free to use the Astral Comet as your living quarters for the time being," Yagyuu said. "I shall go commence with my recharging operations." As Yagyuu turned to leave us, Edwin placed a hand on his chest, stopping him. In an instant, Yagyuu's damaged armor became pristine as he'd just been put together in the factory. "The Death Marker's ability to control Nihility," Yagyuu noted. "I've only heard of it in logs. Thank you, Creator Leader Wainwright."

"You've no need to thank me. Consider us even. After all, you've just become our savior."