Elder SerJi’s P.O.V

Elder SerJi stared at the young man, his group surrounded him. He was hung up on the last thing the boy, Mash the Lost, had said. Mash promised a solution, to act as a savior for the people of his world. The Elder might have agreed if not for the boy’s own admittance of his faults. It sounded like the boy had his own set of problems, and the Elder couldn’t make a decision of such significance himself. He would need to speak with the other Elders and the leaders of the Kishiv. He assumed the other Elders would be willing, but the Kishiv would be harder to convince. Especially once they learned of the boy’s involvement in the present situation.

He couldn’t help but let another exaggerated sigh as the child and his friends marched away. They were strange people who seemed to lack any natural defenses. He knew that was false as he could observe their power to a degree. The energy that pulsated from them gave off greater readings than any storm could. They were monsters who were powerful beyond anything the Elder had imagined. How had they acquired so much strength so fast?

It was a deceptive power too. Their strange soft clothing and fleshy-looking skin made them seem so vulnerable. Even the Kishiv possessed thicker skin than the humans. That was how they had referred to their race. It was a strange word, which they claimed was only used to define their bodies. It had no greater meaning beyond that, and yet they seemed proud of the fact. He used his hands to brush away some of the dirt that had built on his hands. His own skin was hard, and normally it would be a radiant and unblemished white. However, spending days in the woods had left his skin caked with small patches of dirt and grime. He desperately wanted to clean himself, he lingered a little longer though.

After the group had finally left his sight, the elder turned to face the city. He was very familiar with his back and wanted to return as urgently as possible. There was too much he would need to do and say and wasting time checking on the group would be a mistake. Trust facilitated the passage of the future, and he would give the children the opportunity to meet his expectations. They were only children, and he hoped that would make it harder for them to lie. They were on their way to speak with a man named Jeral the Forgetful.

The name was something he had heard before, and one that seemed inappropriate. Jeral had been the only man to match the Elder’s age, and his mind seemed undaunted by the years. Jill the Leaper had been the one to share the man’s name. The names were truly similar, and he shivered from the thought. The worlds were similar. His own people had a similar naming style for children. It was why they had given Mash and his friends titles.

Mash was the Lost as he was always missing from the world. Jill was the Leaper as she jumped across worlds. Luke had become the Mender, and Red was simply known as the Red. It was a rather rude name, and he refused to say such a thing about another, regardless of the strange color of her hair. The elder let out another sigh, lamenting the youth of his compatriots. It was only a two-hundred-year difference, yet the other elders were so childish. Hopefully, the humans could form peace, but he imagined he would need to construct his argument well. The others would not be willing to abandon this world, but he felt the opposite.

Despite the resources that Jeral claimed existed in this world, the Elder knew the opposite to be true. There had been a rather long dry season, and the farms were failing one after another. Soon they would not be able to feed the Kishiv, let alone survive through this war. Their world had been overused, and the goddess had abandoned it in the exchange for information. SerJi wished there were more options but couldn’t see any other solutions. The man didn’t seem like the type prone to anger, but he could not really tell with their strangely leathery skin.

The city came into sight, and he knew that he would have his hands full. Signs of fires could be seen in the outer city. Many Kishiv cities had been badly burned by a stray attack. The building was broken many breaks were outlined by black singes. The smoke even rose from the occasional home, but he was glad to see that there were no children around. It seemed like that aspect of their evacuation had worked. Most children would be behind the walls now.

The elder grabbed a small metal device from his pocket. It was rectangular in shape and had hundreds of squarish buttons on it. They covered both the front and back of the object. It was a long-distance communicator. Each button represented a symbol from which he could construct words. The other elders would receive the message. He kept the message short, his fingers tapping away on the buttons. He held the device side so that he could hit buttons on either side without much effort. After about a minute the message was sent, and he couldn’t help but wonder how their lives would change.

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Mash P.O.V

Mash walked back through the portal, and he turned to the others.

“What now?”

The four of them exchanged quick glances at one another. Mash felt a little awkward about offering to ferry a group of people to another world, but the others didn’t seem to have any problems with the suggestion. He knew that he had made a big decision without consulting the others, but he just wanted to let the Elder prepare as much as he could.

[It is fine I sent the others your idea before you spoke.]

Priscilla’s message made mash stumble a little. At some point, he had given Priscilla express permission to reveal some of his ideas if he didn’t think of it. He left it to her discretion to decide which ones. He trusted her judgment, maybe even more than his own at the moment. It was a relief to hear that they had shared his idea beforehand, as that meant that they would’ve stopped him if they didn’t agree. So, it most likely wasn’t a terrible decision. Red spoke, and he was somewhat expecting her to chastise him for making a hasty decision.

“We should probably find Jeral and ask about the situation. Try to stop the war before we go and steal a world’s people.”

Mash nodded. It was a meeting that he was eager to have as well. Jeral had seemed like a good person, and Mash wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt, but it sounded like he was also involved in the senseless slaughter.

“Do you think he is involved?”

Mash checked with the others first, curious to see if they had reached the same assumptions as him. Red was usually the most skeptical, but it was Luke who spoke up. He nodded slowly, as he explained.

“I noticed steady progress in his strength. I think he is killing in the other worlds too.”

His tone had become oddly separated from his normal speech. It was like he was talking through himself, but at the same time, it was indirect. Mash couldn’t quite describe it. Jill started speaking as Luke finished. Her words were edged with bitterness.

“So much for virtuous, huh.”

The edge to her words made it sound like she wanted to do more than just talk to the man. It seemed like she was jumping to the extreme, but he could understand her perspective. Jeral acted like a good person, and this felt a little like a betrayal. They continued to talk for a little while about how to address the situation, and Red pulled out a small glass orb. It blinked with a red light. Mash stared in confusion as she had drawn it in the middle of their conversation. Also, it was just something he didn’t recognize.

“Jeral is at the sect. The blinking means that he wants to speak. He probably heard that we entered the other world. Let’s see if we can’t get some answers. We should prepare a strategy; it will probably get violent.”

Red seemed to have picked up some of Jill’s coldness. Her words made it seem like she was hoping for a fight. Mash felt strange as he was the only one that didn’t feel any real danger yet. He wanted to hear Jeral’s side before making any decisions, although he didn’t know what had happened over the past two days. They had given him a basic rundown of events, and he knew that they had met with Jeral on several occasions. It seemed like they had soured on the man. He would get his chance soon enough.

They flew at a mostly steady pace and made it to the sect in an hour or so. The sky was cloudy and blocked the sunlight from falling on them. They had come up with some basic strategies in case a fight broke out. It wasn’t overly complex. Even if Jeral had been taking advantage of the other world, they didn’t want to just kill people either. It wouldn’t feel good to just massacre one person to save another. They should be able to escape without much serious worry too. It wasn’t a complex plan which was usually the ideal situation. They didn’t bother checking the sect much as Mash had been told that it was mostly empty now. Almost everyone was trying to get stronger. They continued up the side of the mountain, knowing that Jeral would likely be sitting atop his tower.

As Mash saw the familiar tower, he couldn’t help but feel like it was more ominous now. He decided to never live in or build a tower. It just seemed like a poor design choice. Cresting the top of the tower, he landed in front of a seated Jeral. His wings quickly retreated into his body. The other’s landed with him and they sort of stood across from Jeral. The position of the four of them standing opposite the seated master stressed their division. A cloud broke in the sky and a ray of sunlight fell onto Jeral, and Mash could understand why the others had soured. Jeral was a lot stronger, notably so. With his domain, he estimated the man to be around twice as strong as he was before. The light seemed to fall on the man intentionally, and Mash inwardly cursed toward the sky for its favoritism.

“You’re a lot stronger.”

It was Mash’s job to evaluate his strength, and he was supposed to send a message to others about it. He gave them more details, telling them he was at least twice s strong as before. He probably shouldn’t have spoken aloud, but he wanted to address the change immediately. Jeral smiled broadly as he spoke.

“Yes! The other world is filled with great resources. You cannot imagine how much I have progressed. I am nearing my next advancement too. The upgrade will be immense. I will finally reach the immortal realm.”

The way Jeral spoke of it, told Mash that he probably would agree to a peaceful solution. The fervor in Jeral’s voice told Mash that he wanted nothing more than to achieve the next realm. Mash hesitated in his response. He didn’t know what to say, or even if he should say anything. He sent a message to the others, letting them know that they should take charge. Mash imagined that if he shared any of his words it would lead to disaster. What he hadn’t expected was Luke to speak with even harsher words than Mash would’ve chosen.