The trio reconvened inside Lucy's room in the Medbay. She had chosen the room near the entrance and performed rudimentary repairs to the doors and walls. Multiple cracks and blast marks were cleaned or sealed off with silicone paste. She conducted a sweeping, and arranged the bed, table and scattered medical equipment in an orderly, almost-symmetrical fashion. Adam gave the cabinet contents the once-over. Not a single bottle or box stood out of place. Very Spartan.

"How are you feeling, Luce?" Saria asked. Unlike Adam and Lucy, Saria was in top condition. The purification process restored any wounds accrued via her Witch form. As if she was the butterfly, emerging from a cocoon of red.

Lucy, sitting up in her bed, sputtered into a tissue. She placed it in a bin on her bedside table, next to her rifle. Saria rushed over with a cup of water. Lucy drank it, deeply.

"Thanks, Saria. It's been a long time since I dug this deep into my reserves." She tried to crack a smile, and it wavered. "I suppose I'm only as good as any Maiden suffering burnout can be. What about you, Chosen?"

His legs ached from a combination of disuse and blisters. A woolly sensation filled his head.. "Worry about yourself." Came his reply.

"Then it's all fine!" Lucy said.

"Are you sure?" Saria said. "'Cause we can wait until tomorrow. You don't have to push yourself. I can take care of the Chosen, like we agreed."

"I don't want to waste time. A rogue agent is on the loose. There is still enough gas in this girl for a debrief." Lucy said. She leaned closer, stretching her arms with a wince. She glanced upward. "Operator Pereia, are you there?"

"Correct." Miriam had started the call before Adam and Saria entered Lucy's room.

"Then let's begin."

"Understood. Automatic transcribing is now on." Miriam said. For once, her elbows weren't resting on the table. The blue light of her holo-monitors lit up the gloom, revealing a swathe of neatly groomed hair and the contents of her den. Adam squinted. Nope, he wasn't seeing double. She had tidied her room, folding her clothes and tidying up the gargantuan ball of wires and machines. "Datetime: 27th Day, 15th Month, 204th Year, 7th Epoch. Location: Major Operating Base Tifereth-56, currently stranded in an unknown hostile world. Participants: Communications Operations Captain Miriam Pereia, First Class Novice War Maiden Lucy Klavdia, Novice War Maiden Saria Alcott and…"

She peered at Adam. "Adam, what shall we designate you as?"

"There's nothing in the documentation?" Lucy asked.

"The Chosen only appear a few times per epoch, and they've all come from different creeds or social classes."

"Chosen of Astraea should do." Lucy said.

"Understood. Chosen of Astraea Adam Westfield. All participants are in fine condition, aside from Lucy Klavdia, who is suffering from harsh plasma deficiency. This meeting shall discuss Saria Alcott's recovery, the current state of the MOB Tiefereth-56 and future objectives. Adam, have you attended an ADO briefing before?"

The question struck him more than Miriam expected. The obvious answer was 'no', as he wasn't a member of the ADO, until he began digging into his career as an E-1 Private. Did boot camp count? Most likely not, since he was only a recruit at that stage. He was confident his superiors debriefed him on his future career paths after basic training ended. The exact conversations, however, he couldn't recall. His memories faded into white mist after he boarded the bus to infantry training. He had an inkling he should have answered 'yes', that he had sat in a room with his fellow soldiers and listened to his superiors draft plans and assign roles, but he couldn't explain why.

Did the cryo-induced memory loss run deeper than he first thought?

"Adam? Are you there?"

"Chosen." Saria said, "You good?"

Adam blinked. He rubbed his forehead. "No. Nah, I haven't. Why are you asking?"

"Only for the record. It isn't the most important part of the meeting. I'll mark you down as 'no'. Don't worry too much about it."

"Yeah, sure, thanks. Wait, what the hell Miriam? You're acting like a professional." Adam blurted out.

Miriam rolled her eyes and ground her teeth. "Yes, Adam, I am, because someone returned with a second War Maiden and proved his worth."

A muffled giggle rang from Lucy's end of the room. Miriam sighed, as if she was tempted to slump back down on her desk and return to her old slovenly ways. Adam hadn't imagined it was possible for the composed, careful Lucy to wear such a shit-eating grin.

"Why, yes, Operator Pereia." Lucy said, gesturing towards Adam. "Is there anything you feel like saying to him?"

Saria herself had a twinkle in her own eyes. She nodded at him. "Yeah, Operator, wanna tell us what you called the Chosen before?"

Miriam let out a sigh. She stood up, exposing a patchy ADO military uniform. It was darker, and lacked the thick jacket of the War Maidens' uniforms. Miria bowed towards Adam. "I, Communications Operatiorns Captain Miriam Pereia, hereby apologize to Her Chosen. My exile in the wilderness proved taxing, and I am ashamed to admit my Faith in Her wavered terribly. I apologise for my poor behavior, and I will subject myself to whatever repentance She desires at the end of this campaign. Until then, noble Chosen, I swear to support you in all your endeavours, with my heart, soul and body."

She held the bow for a few seconds, then stood up, flicking her fringe back. "There. I said it. We good, Adam?"

No. Adam thought. This was not good. It was terrible. Lucy opened her mouth and made it even worse.

"You must continue to refer to him by his proper title, Operator Pereia." Lucy said, crossing her arms. "The Chosen."

Saria stuffed her fingers into her mouth as she turned to face the wall. Any longer and she would have broken down with laughter. Miriam mumbled something under her breath. Possibly a swear.

"I refuse." Miriam said.

Oh, thank god.

"The Chosen, Adam, has not protested when referred to his birth name. I will not be changing unless he tells me otherwise." She ended the statement with a huff and a glare.

Three pairs of eyes, two present and one virtual, fell onto him. He shrugged. "I don't care what you call me."

"There you have it, Klavdia."

"That goes to you too, Saria." Adam said.

Saria's eyes widened. She glanced between him and Lucy, who still had her arms crossed, but in a less satisfied way. Saria rubbed the back of her neck and laughed nervously. "Sorry, I don't think I can do that. Protocol and all. I have to follow my leader here."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Leader? Oh, Lucy. She was the First Class, after all. Maybe if he completed this mission faster, these girls would stop using that stupid title.

"Now then, if this tomfoolery is over, shall we begin the actual meeting?" Miriam said. "Please?"

"Fine. Don't forget to list him as the Chosen on all official documentation, Operator." Lucy said.

"I don't need a Novice to lecture me on my job, thank you very much." Miriam said. "First Class Novice War Maiden Lucy Klavdia, please give a report on the current state of the MOB."

Lucy nodded and spoke. Her report wasn't anything special, consisting of details Adam figured out or knew. The MOB had been left untouched in their absence, aside from wandering monsters gunned down by the miniature turret. Saria Alcott was healthy and human. Penny deserted the group. The signal beacon in Grassruin Valley remained functional despite being unattended. Adam chipped in by providing his account of the events. He wasn't much of a storyteller. It was functional and straight to the point. Miriam made small grunts of satisfaction in her recording. Together, they created a complete picture of their experiences.

"Are you sure that Rick youth won't loosen his tongue?" Miriam asked.

"Oh no, not at all, Operator Pereia. He'll stay put. I personally saw to that." Lucy said.

"You mean me, Lucy." Adam said. "I kicked the shit out of him in front of the crowd. No-one's going to believe his sorry ass after that."

"And I helped." Lucy added.

"Yeah, you did." Adam said. Poor bastard had to watch his ex-comrade get smote into dust. He held the same level of terror as Penny, perhaps even more.

Saria lit up with a knowing 'oh' or understanding. "I get it, Lucy."

"Yes, I knew you would, Saria."

"Great work out there."

"Why, thank you! It was quite worth it." Had Lucy not been bedridden, Adam was certain the two girls would be hi-fiving and hugging each other.

"Right…amending that to 'we'." Miriam said, "Now, for that rogue agent. Penny, her name is. Have you considered that she might be simply afraid of us?"

"We kinda reinforced her fear of Witches back in her."

"People do irrational things under distress, Adam. It's possible she ran off, then regretted it and now lacks the courage to return. It doesn't matter, I suppose. We won't be chasing anyone until Klavdia recovers. Moving on then. What happened after that?"

Adam's recounts neared the end of the mission, when he and Lucy fought the Flame Witch. He brought up the truck, and the atmosphere in the room shifted. Lucy's smile dropped. She leaned forward in her bed. Saria scratched the back of her head, twisting her mouth into an awkward grimace. Miriam herself leaned back in her seat, slightly, in a fashion that suggested she wanted to be somewhere else.

"Something up?" Adam said.

"Klavdia, shall we do this?" Miriam said.

Lucy pondered for a moment, then shook her head. "No, now's not the time. I'll have a proper talk once I've recovered. It may not be appropriate to record this here. Maybe separately, Operator Pereia."

"Very well then."

"What's going on?" Adam said, his hands on the edge of his seat. "You guys blaming me for something?"

"What? No, not at all!" Lucy said.

"Parts of that encounter could have used some improvement, is what she means." Miriam said, "It'll require more brainpower than Klavdia has available right now, so stay put."

She made a note on one of the holo-screens, then turned to Adam. "Chosen, you've received word from the Heralds, correct?"

"Only one, yeah." Adam said. Alright, time to let the cat out of the bag. Adam pointed at Saria, who pointed at herself. "Your sister Madeline is alive." He said.

Saria stiffened. She walked closer, a tiny heat haze rippling around her body. A fluorescent light flickered above, dissipating her shadow looming over him. "Don't joke about this, Ad—I mean, Chosen."

"I'm not shitting you." Adam said, edging back a little. Girl was ready to pounce on his bones if he didn't answer. "The Herald appears as the next War Maiden I'm meant to purify. She took on your form too. That's how I knew about you."

"What's my sister look like then?"

"Green hair, cut short, about sixteen-year-old, has these wide eyes and round cheeks like a doll. She also sounds like you, just softer and higher-pitched. Uniform's different."

Saria made a strangled sound, the heat haze blooming in magnitude, its radiance causing sweat to roll down his collar.

"Stars above, Chosen." Lucy remarked, "That is scarily accurate. It is a Herald, then."

Saria struggled to breathe, and the questions exploded forth. "Where is she, Chosen? Where's Maddy? Is she doing okay? Is she still sick? Has anyone hurt her?"

Adam scraped his chair back right as Saria tried to grab him by the shoulders. He batted her away with his bandaged hand. She flinched and stepped back.

"Sorry." She muttered.

"She's in an old castle." Adam said. "Fuck if I know where it is. I only saw the interior. All medieval like."

"What do you mean by that?" Miriam said.

"Medieval." Adam repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious? Stone walls, old furniture, no electricity, that sort of aesthetic."

"Oh, you mean pre-electronics. That's not what medieval means, Adam." Miriam said. "Are you sure the Herald didn't provide any more clues?"

"She said the distance from Astraea limited her insight. I'm not an expert with these Heralds."

"Sounds right." Miriam said and sighed. "Old castle, eh? Unfortunately, that's not helping much."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at this."

Miriam showed off her map. She zoomed out so that the entire breadth of the valley was on display. The land had already seemed big at the edge of the forest, and the map really put it into perspective.

Grassruin Valley was sandwiched between two elevated tracts of land, one of which was a mountain. As Adam had predicted, most of the vegetation and wilderness were untamed, with villages near natural resources, such as lakes or mines. There were two main roads, one that waded through the middle of the vegetation and another that clung to a mountain edge. The latter later trailed off towards an expanse of water, at which Miriam's map ended. Saria's throat tightened as she saw the fire damage—smoking trails of grey, forests reduced to cinders, swathes of fertile farmland ran into ashes.

"Ain't your fault." Adam said to her.

"Pardon?"

"It wasn't like you got drunk and hit a girl." Adam said. "The corruption ate you up without your say-so. Not your fault, alright? Same thing I said to Lucy."

Her mind was elsewhere, and it took her a few seconds to respond. "Thanks, Chosen." Saria said, and Lucy nodded with approval.

"Getting back on topic…" A series of screenshots flashed up on screen. All of them were various ruined buildings, taken from a bird's-eye perspective. Fallen apartment blocks, chunks of skyscrapers, a grocery store with its roof caved in, ancient temple-esque structures with crumbling walls and pillars. Humans occupied some, taking the form of tiny misshapen blobs on the photographs. Others were swarmed in foliage.

"These seem familiar, Adam?"

"Can't tell. It was indoors. Some of these aren't castles."

"The Heralds are known to be cryptic, sometimes to encourage us common humans to find our own way forward." Miriam said, "In this case, it may be due to a lack of foresight. A castle could mean many things, depending on the interpretation or the context involved. Note that a few of these locations are mired in corruption, like that 'redspot' Adam and Lucy visited, so take caution."

The more Adam observed, the more confused he became. When he stumbled across that Toyota pickup truck, he assumed this world was Earth after some post-apocalyptic event and he had transmigrated hundreds or thousands of years into the future. Glenn's Rest was built by groups of survivors. They scavenged materials from the old world, explaining their firearms, clothes and the usage of English. The idea was absolutely horrifying, but then again, he never formed that many attachments in his adolescence.

These photographs poked holes in this theory. If these ruins did originate from his old world, where were their roads? Why was that chunk of skyscraper cut as clean as a cake slice? How could that apartment block have flipped upside down on a flat surface? It was as if God was a spoilt child, and he'd thrown his building blocks across the playground before running off.

"You two." Adam said to Lucy and Saria. "You two moved across this world before I came here. Remember anything?"

Lucy shook her head. "The memories are hazy. I may have passed by some of those buildings, but I cannot be sure. Sorry, Chosen."

Saria grew a far-away look in her eye. "I stumbled across a swampy place with Maddy on my back. We opened this metal underground bunker without our tech. I told her to stay inside while I ran to fetch medicine, and when I returned, she wasn't there. Then, I think I ran across a desert area? And somehow I ended up here? Rot it all, I can't remember either!"

She shook her head. "Who cares? The locations, Pereia. Where are they?"

Miriam marked the map. The ruins were scattered out from each other, with no clear path between them. "Don't waste time inspecting all of them. Find leads first. Klavdia said as much—the Witches are noticeable. And Alcott, behave. You won't be leaving until Klavdia recovers."

Saria's face fell. "But…"

"Don't forget about the rogue agent. Locating her with a high priority."

"I know, I know! I'm not an insub." Saria said, "But Maddy…I left her alone. I failed her. I have to!"

"This will hurt to hear, but your sister existed as a Witch for as long as you. She's suffering, yes, but one week or two will…well, let's say it won't change things much." Miriam said. "There's plenty of time to strategize. Why don't you familiarize yourself with the base a little?"