The harbor shined like evening, the street lights besieging the night sky and the stars. Lamp poles stretched from the bay to the uppermost hill, keeping the darkness from shrouding Domains in complete black. And with light that flourished beyond dusk, they paved sight to the dwellers of Karan.

People sauntered along the sides, reaching their homes to end their day. Wandering feet stepped into the spotlight beneath poles before crossing another one. While on a quiet stroll, sounds emanated from the central region of the harbor. They turned and viewed the abundant life filling the streets.

Men and women clattered their shoes on the ground. They walked, and they ran. They jumped, and they shouted. Cheers sprinkled throughout the field.

They formed groups in various spots, forming circles as they tossed balls to one another. Some ran far to play a game of catch, often leading to one barely colliding against a stray person. And often would they invite the loner to come play with them.

But among the few, they tossed cursors instead.

Hurling those solid pixelated hands into the air, the index finger softly descended to another person like any ball would. The receiver caught it and grabbed it by the pointer finger. They brought it behind them, and their eyes peered at another person. Plunging their hand down, they sent the cursor to their target. Up the cursor went as the group watched it descend to the next receiver.

Impy and Terayla joined one bunch—the one nearest to Moko. Their little heads mingled with the rest in a large circle. They tossed the cursor like a toy, which Moko personally thought was shocking. The man next to Impy kindly handed him the cursor for throwing. Swinging his arm, it reached the other end of the ring, and the receiver caught it. The people clapped their hands and kept playing the game. And then it was Terayla’s turn. She threw it with all her might, but it fell into the center of the circle. Laughter erupted with more claps of encouragement, and they continued.

But sitting in the crab booth was Moko. He leaned his head against the countertop, looking far into the nightly field with streetlights casting vision. The man behind the stall took the empty bowls, crab shells, and leftover soup.

One of them was Moko’s, the other two belonging to the kids. Sweeping them, the man poked the air a few times, and he commanded, “Return.”

Thus, the bowls were concealed in an orange light. They shrunk and condensed, hurling into the air in autumn-toned beads and landing on the man’s palm. He clamped his fingers shut, ceasing the luminescent shine. And opening his fist, they disappeared and left no trace of light. He then faced the boy next to Moko and said, “Are you done too?”

Lorace whined with crab food stuffed in his mouth. He said with a muffled voice, “Wait! I’m still eating.”

“You’ve been taking your sweet time, kiddo. Even children can eat faster than you.”

“Well, geez, I’m sorry. I gotta take care of someone, you know,” Lorace said, pointing at Moko. After exchanging some words with the man, he shifted his focus to his friend. His body faced the booth, both eating and listening. And talking. “So… Moko, was that the whole story? Is that how you got your hand messed up?”

He nodded. “If it wasn’t for Terayla and her cats, I could’ve been– Ah!”

Moko hissed, feeling his hand throb in pain. The blue cat accompanied him, however. It nestled its head on his hand, and a numbing sensation overrode the excruciating discomfort. But its magical characteristics could not nullify the sting completely.

“Sorry if that hurt,” the mother said. She sat on the other side of the chair, lifting the cat’s head and pinning a needle through Moko’s skin. The wire sutured his wound at a long, excruciating pace, a pace that he thought wasn’t worth enduring. It felt like half an hour had passed when it was actually two minutes. He wanted to take out the needle and end his agony, but he tolerated it. His left hand punched his thigh, trying to conquer the pain. The mother said with dried tears on her cheeks, “Just keep talking. Think about other things while I get this done.”

The father was on his knees applying ointment to the cut on Moko’s calf. He then wrapped it with a bandage and said with a chuckle, “These are going to be big scars you’ll have.”

“I bet…” Moko seethed and twitched.

As Lorace began talking about other topics in mind, Moko heard two pairs of footsteps approaching. He raised his head and saw the two wanderers standing in front of him, the same ones who warned him about Mannea. A man and a woman. He was the one who shouted at him through the dome walls, trying to negotiate peace. They stared, their expressions serious and intrigued.

Moko recollected the time they talked with him before withdrawing so my parents could focus on tending to his wounds. So far, this was what he got:

–He’s Roven, and she’s Neylan. They are the parents of a daughter who got captured during the Awt incident. Impy had been there, too. Roven shared that his daughter was forcibly taken by one of the men. Resisting the attack caused the laws to strike him down. The Consortium’s inaction led them to take matters into their own hands, resulting in their current situation. After the chaos ended, he and his wife were on the goal of taking back their child and all the other children.

“How is everything?” Roven asked, crossing his arms and stroking his side beard.

“We’re almost done,” the mother said, “but you can start the questioning now.”

He and Neylan nodded as Lorace sighed in contentment. He gestured for the man to pick up the bowl of hollow shells. Once finished, he faced Moko and the rest. “I could speak for him. He told me a lot of things.”

“It’s fine. I got the gist from witnesses earlier in the day,” Roven said. Lorace sat comfortably and watched in silence. “So, you’re Moko Lor. Do you remember what we talked about a few minutes ago? Our situation is a little complex, but did everything make sense?”

Moko half-nodded and half-shook his head. “Kinda.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

–Roven and Neylan have lied about being wanderers. In reality, they had Systems—a Mug and a Cup, respectively. They hid the truth because they believed wanderers who have Systems appeared suspicious. Wanderers are known to be more knowledgeable about realms and the World because they don’t have to deal with stationary Assets and Domains, meaning they can travel without restrictions. However, wanderers typically avoid the Lei Realm only because of the Consortium’s Watchful Eye. That’s why it was rare to see any Systemless adults present. These two were exceptions because they weren’t wanderers to begin with.

–They also believed if people with Systems wander through lands and warn everyone of the same thing, it feels like they have some opposing agenda. It could bite them in the back if words spread about their behavior. So they use their status as wanderers to support their testimony on the event that happened in Awt, making them more believable. Neylan carries both their Systems in her bag while Roven wears very simple clothes for first impressions. His outfit could barely fit his Mug, allowing him to appear like he was actually a wanderer. She always accompanies him. Otherwise, his System would teleport near his vicinity if it’s too distant. It could land on his hand for all we knew, and that’d ruin his facade.

Roven continued. “People were making outrageous claims about you. But when coming face-to-face with you, they weren’t lying. A Cookie System, but Systemless. There’s no content. It’s like a hollow crab; no meat. The Systemless characteristic bypassed the laws. No wonder you’re able to beat that kidnapper without losing your System. It’s interesting how you achieved it using just cookies and cursors. Then the question that arises is… What is the purpose of your System?”

Moko squinted his eyes, saying with a high-pitched voice to accommodate the pain from the last needle puncture. “Am I supposed to answer that?”

“No, I was asking myself. Sorry for the confusion, unless you know.”

“Oh, no, I don’t,” Moko said. He grunted as his mother cut the string. She finished closing up the hole on both sides of his hand. She pulled away and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Neylan explained, puzzled, “Cultivating your System requires gathering Assets from others. It won’t be easy, however.”

“Why is that?” Moko asked.

“The Lei Realm has a law addressing this. According to the Consortium, it’s the 3rd law. Any gift or exchange of Assets must be purely through honest mutual agreements. Playing mind games with the other person would not cause a successful trade.”

“Are you saying he is playing mind games?” The mother asked. She stepped in while wrapping an elastic bandage around Moko’s wound. After which, she commanded her tools to return. The needle, strings, scissors, and wrappers got submerged in white light. Landing on her hand, the orbs faded by her clasping fingers. She looked at Neylan with narrow eyes. “My son does not do tricks.”

“I don’t think he was a jerk when I was with him in Scholomark,” Lorace said, wanting to tag along.

“I apologize if that came out as rude,” she said with a little bow. “From everything that has happened and the initial transfer of Assets between you and your son, I had the impression of something similar to the case.”

“Goodness, I never said anything like that when we discussed it! But go on; I understand.”

Neylan sighed and continued. “It still comes with drawbacks, Moko. If the other person does not wish to give you their Asset, then you cannot receive it. If you come across any smart person, they wouldn’t hand you a free Asset without a reason.”

“That is why we got his back,” the father said. He stood after patching the boy’s calf.

“Yes, but when you made that decision, I’m sure it was nothing but stress after stress.” Neylan glanced at Moko. “Be grateful for what your parents have done.”

It was not out of character for Neylan to speak blunt truths, but her words struck them with force. Moko looked at his parents. Troubled expressions were on their faces after what came out of her mouth. The awkward silence said everything. Darting between the two, he asked, “Is this true?”

The mother touched his shoulder. She shook her head and gave him a reassuring smile. With a gentle voice, she said, “Don’t worry about a thing, honey. We got everything under control. This is what parents must do if their child is in trouble. Everything worked out in the end, and that’s what matters.”

Lorace mumbled, unsure if he should say something. After some thought, he said, “Hey, at least the cursor you gave him saved his life and those kids.”

She chuckled. “Even better. It was a good payoff.”

Roven lowered his arms and cleared his throat. He patted Neylan on the shoulder and gave her a nod. She returned with the same gesture. In tandem, they shifted their gaze to the parents. Roven asked, “Is he good now?”

The mother backed away from Moko. The father did the same. Lorace kept his position, observing Moko as if contemplating if he wanted support. The parents took deep breaths, settling their minds before responding. They then nodded, giving the other couple a resolute expression. “Yes. Go on with the plan.”

Moko watched the adults speak in phrases that he had no clue about. He shot his head from one person to the other. An increasing confusion made his eyes blink a few times. “What’s going on?” He asked.

Roven grinned and said, “Before we continue, we might as well answer all of your questions. After all, the Big Day is in two days, and tomorrow is all about planning. So we got time tonight. With that in mind, do you have any questions?”

He nodded profusely. With a voice that he was so eager to release, he asked, “Where did you all come from? How come you know Lorace and my parents? And who are those people playing with my cursors? Do you also know who those dangerous guys are–”

“Okay,” Roven said, interrupting Moko’s onslaught of questions. He and a couple laughed. “I guess we could start from the beginning. Mind if I sit beside you?”

Moko nodded. Roven sat next to him on the opposite side of Lorace. The parents and Neylan sat down as the man in the booth observed them. As the fragrance of crabs lessened and the salt of the sea rushed in by the constant wind, Roven cleared his throat and leaned back. Moko anticipated a long night, judging by his excessively relaxed posture.

“We can start from the day when Awt got attacked by those captors. Side note: we call them captors because their goal is to capture. Do you know that day?”

He recalled the time when Impy had told the story from his perspective, albeit it being an emotional one. “Yeah. The boy that was on my shoulders told me all about it. It was brief, so I don’t know the specifics. All I know is that men attacked.”

Roven clapped his hand with bright eyes. “Great! That’ll help you understand what I’ll say next. The man you faced yesterday would be one of the captors. If he had daggers, then he belonged to a fleet that worked with the Arbiters.”

“A fleet? There’s a group of them?” Moko’s tone was heavy with emphasis.

“We don’t know how many there are, but we know there is one man who calls himself ‘General.’ He controls the fleet, and he seems to be the one who coordinated that attack on Awt.

“It all began when the men started capturing children and flying away with them. When a perilous explosion occurred, I was on the floor injured. Luckily, I lived with only minor bleeding. Our daughter was taken away. My wife stayed in her Domain a few blocks south. But I… I was being carried. Carried straight to the General himself. Why? It was for his own amusement.

“Let’s go through everything—from then to today—and connect all the pieces together.”