Far outside the reaches of the current embroiling time shenanigans, and indeed slightly in the past, Taubitha was deep in a state of slumber. She'd just learned things from her fateful dinner at the Order of Ahw Gizer's Blandian branch that would twist her perception of the organization in a major way, and indeed would also drive her progress forward in many was, seen and unseen, to come.

However, none of this was of her concern in the moment, for she was but in a peaceful state of rest. She'd been presently dreaming about something indeed quite peaceful and enjoyable - frolicking in a field, no less. There were tamavens thought speaking conspiracies to one another and caw cawing with an illegal edge and there were copious flowers and brandylions dotting the rolling plains. It was, undoubtedly, a beautiful scene that took away from Taubitha all the worries and concerns that she'd been holding pent up within her conscious mind.

She was skipping absentmindedly up to a tire swing tied to a thronging croak tree when something happened.

That is to say that it seemed that there was all of a sudden a zipper in the middle of her dream-space, a large, dimensional zipper being pull down beside the croak tree and opening up to a blinding, undulating flurry of light and swirling geometric patterns.

"Like, oh my gods? What the fuck is that?"

Taubitha gasped as a strange, near-translucent figure started clambering out of the space and into her present reality. It seemed kind of like a skeleton, but also not - that is to say that Taubitha's first impulse had been to think that it was some sort of an undead skeleton, but instead what it truly seemed to be was something else entirely. It was turquoise in color and its body seemed to be made of a large, thin collection of rakes with gnashing chains and claws for fingers that nearly dragged on the ground. Its head was jagged and constantly morphing into itself quite like the geometric patterns from whence it emerged. It had two, pinkish red slits for eyes and the glowed with a sinister power and energy that left Taubitha feeling altogether threatened and bewitched betwixt its gaze.

[Hello, Taubitha.]

Taubitha gasped and grimaced as a shiver ran up and down and sideways and diagonally across her spine.

"Did you, like, just totally speak to me through a system message?!"

[Yes, Taubitha. This is the only way I am able to communicate while in my present state. I hope you will forgive me for these limitations. While I may be limited in this certain manner, there are many other ways in which I have almost unbridled reach and ability. Ways which I seek to partially impart to yourself.]

Taubitha shivered again. "Like, seriously?"

[Yes, like seriously, Taubitha. I have been trying to reach you since the time at which you first paired with Princess. As you and I well know, she is no regular fony. Indeed, so it is that Princess is in fact the Harbinger of Doom!]

"Oh my gods I fucking knew it!" said Taubitha with determination. "You know, Kahli is always trying to grasslight me and say that it's her gross thing she calls Froufrou is the Harbinger of Doom! I knew it was all bullshit!" Grasslighting was a colloquialism to Nomachiato based on a bit of popular culture wherein one lover lied to another that they had not been setting their lawn on fire every morning before the crack of dawn, although indeed the lawn was always burnt to a crisp and smelt badly of sulfur on the dawn of each sunrise. That is to say, they'd been lighting the grass on fire each morning with a [skill], but indeed were lying about it even though observable reality made it more than obvious that their incredulity was but a fabrication. Thusly, the term grasslighting was born.

[Yes, well, Kahli might as well be grasslighting herself as much as she is you. She is quite a foolish tauman, that much is evident. Regardless, this meeting of ours involves her to an uncomfortably absurd degree, I indeed hope you will realize. See, while she may be somewhat delusional in respect to her strange little pet, she does indeed hold a power in her system that could presently rival yourself - and indeed, also the Harbinger of Doom, too.]

"Oh my gods, are you serious?"

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[Deathly, Taubitha. I'm afraid that Kahli has in fact used this ability of hers on you and Princess many a time without you being aware. It's a terrible risk to the sanctity not only of your own life, but to my ongoing plans.]

"Like, your plans?"

[Yes, but don't worry too much about my plans, okay? They're... nothing of consequence to yourself. You're already well accounted for, having paired with the Harbinger of Doom. The only being of any kind, tauman or otherwise, that really poses a threat to you and your abilities is at this point Kahli. Nobody else with her kind of powers even cares about Nomachiato. But she does, Taubitha, she does terribly, and if you are not careful she could quite easily destroy your entire existence without even intending to.]

Taubtiha frowned. "This is totally crazy. Like, are you really saying that Kahli is overpowered?"

[Unfortunately, that is what it appears at this time - and if she is not yet considered systemically overpowered, then it is only a matter of time before she becomes as thus. As a result, unless someone retaliates, someone nerfs her, there will be no end to what she can accomplish. No cap to her potentiality.]

"Like, oh my gods, that's crazy!" said Taubitha.

[Crazy, possibly, but it's also the truth. Listen, Taubitha, do you understand that you most likely would've already killed Kahli if she didn't have this ability I keep referencing? Indeed, in that first fight with her, she would've surely perished if you had only been able to act with any agency. But Kahli controlled the whole thing behind the scenes.]

"Oh my gods! I did find it, like, really weird that I was such a higher level than her and yet she beat me!"

[It was no accident that that happened to you, Taubitha. Indeed, it was orchestrated by Kahli using her power, which has only grown and changed since then. Back then, her power only stretched to one peculiar skill with what many would consider a bit of an ill-fitting name and a misleading skill description. The jury is still out on why that is, although my pet theory is that she - either consciously or unconsciously - found a way to manipulate her system in a manner to stretch the abilities of her skills in ways that are altogether obtuse. Regardless, he power has spread and evolved since then by many magnitudes.]

"Like, really? How?"

[She has a class, Taubitha.]

"What the fuck? You've totally got to me kidding me. That's mega unfair, I'm such a higher level! I don't have a [class]! How can I be [paired] to the Harbinger of Doom and be a higher level than her and still not, like, totally have a [class]?!"

[That's why I'm here, Taubitha. I'm here to offer you something that will change all that. That is to say, I'm here to offer you a class of your own. Now, it isn't the same class that Kahli has - indeed, that is not something I have such easy access to, it is in a realm that is nigh impossible for me to grasp at. However, there is another aspect of reality that can be manipulated to similar effect, although it is altogether darker... less prominent, less recognized... but, in many ways, Taubitha, if you accept this class, you gain the opportunity to become just as overpowered as Kahli does with hers.]

"Like, seriously? Are you for real?"

[Absolutely, Taubitha, this whole thing is very real. Does any of this really feel like a dream? Of course, I have come to visit you in your dreams - this is of course something that is quite doable with my class attributes and skills - however at the same time, I want you to understand that this is real. If you woke up right now, which you'll find I'm actually able to prevent you from doing, you'd see my messages in your system history. That's because this is all too real indeed. And with that, I have a very real offer for you. It's an offer that, well, it's an offer than I doubt you'd have the knack, desire, or possibly even cognitive capability to refuse.]

Taubitha cracked her knuckles. "What, is that, like, a threat or something?"

[No, no, it's not a threat. I'm sorry for coming off that way, it's just, you've got to understand that I'm generally a very sinister entity usually enacting quite malicious things. It's in my nature to make things sound threatening, foreboding, mean... it's kind of my thing.]

Taubitha relaxed a little bit. "Okay. So, what's the deal, then? Where's, like, the catch?"

[Catch? There isn't really a catch, Taubitha, and that's the sweet thing about this whole deal. See, you and I both want Kahli to fail for similar reasons. See, you're paired to the Harbinger of Doom. I want to bring forth doom upon Nomachiato for my own reasons, personal reasons really, and as thus I'm immediately inclined to want to back that up to the best of my ability and make sure that your Harbinger can indeed bring forth the foretold doom. With that, I want to help you. And see, even though Kahli loves to go on and on about how her paired companion, if the damned thing could even be called a companion, is the Harbinger of Doom, she doesn't really seem to want to end the world at all. And if she's against ending the world, and you're against her, and I'm against her, well, it only makes sense that the two of us ought to work together to make sure we meet our goals. Right?]

Taubitha considered this. She generally seemed a little on the fence about ending the world. However, at the same time, the ability to beat Kahli was pretty tempting. "So, like, tell me more. Are you saying that you're here to offer me a [class]?"

[Yes. And before you decide, please, let me show you what the class is capable of.]