Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

“Morning sir.”

“Morning.”

“Yo, what’s good boss?”

“Morning Rhodes.”

Clank. Clank. Clank.

“Morning. Did you check your skycord?”

“Morning Sati. I haven’t yet. Did something happen?”

“Noting important. Reol should fill you in.”

“Understood. Thank you for all you do.”

“Anytime.”

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Stop.

The man dressed in red and gold flexed his back, proceeding to rotate each shoulder. He placed his hand on the gold-plated door and pushed.

Inside, a tall, bronze-tinted elf dressed in high-waisted black leather pants and a white shirt with bishop sleeves. Layered over it- a sleeveless, dragonskin chest piece. The elf's silver hair was tied into a tight ponytail and her oval glasses sat on the bridge of their nose.

Eyes focused on a pad, “Good morning, Himmel.”

“Reol, Morning.” Himmel closed the door. “I heard nothing important has happened so far.”

“You wouldn't be wrong.” Reol tapped their pad. “We haven't come across anything regarding Babel's Tower.”

“Have the other guilds found anything?” Himmel walked to his desk.

“We have reason to believe that they haven't.” Reol met Himmel’s eyes, holding the pad by their side. “But knowing them, they wouldn't share the information either way.”

“That’s true.” Himmel dropped into his leather chair, making it squeak. “There’s no rush in any case, let's ensure we're being thorough.”

“I’ll let the others know.” Reol typed on their pad.

“Perfect.” Himmel leaned into his desk, resting his elbows. “Anything else I need to know about?”

“I don’t know how important you consider this but, adventurers in Aria are kicking up a fuss about Skull Kidds.” Reol peeked from their pad. “Moreso since 30 of them took over the entrance to the Aria Mountain Ranges. No one was allowed to enter.”

“What were they up to?” Himmel asked.

‘We don’t know, but it’s all over social media. Our people in Aria weren’t online when this went down.” Reol replied.

“We have to rotate more people there.” Himmel tapped his desk. “Aria is becoming more important with each passing day.”

“Understood.” Reol continued typing.

“Wonderful. What's been happening in Aria though? First Kalel is spotted in the region, and now this.”

Himmel played with his deep purple ring with a golden river engraved on it. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Would you like to set up a meeting with Kalel?”

“Absolutely not.”

Ding. A message alert.

“Hey Himmel, I'm coming to your place. I need to speak with you. I'm bringing some people too. Okay bye!”

Himmel closed his eyes. He pinched his eyelids, dragging them towards his nose.

“Reol… Clear my schedule.”

***

“Is everybody strapped in!?” Clark enquired.

“Yeah.”

“Y-yes.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Yes yes yes!”

“Oogie!”

“Ready Mr. Kal.”

Clark shut his eyes for a second, lips stretched straight. He nodded. Jejj snickered. He opened his eyes and flipped a switch on the dashboard by the map to Babel.

The ship ascended; its wheels retreating into the ship's body. The ship climbed the building with increasing speed. Skullcracker played with his belt. Torell's heartbeat could be heard by the rest. Emerging from the building's entrance, Clark pressed a button on the yoke.

“Sit tigh-!”

The engine's voice came to life. The thruster's fire came to burn. BOOM. The ship hurtled towards the purple infinite. Jejj couldn't get enough as their elven teeth shone bright like the stars. Torell, on the other hand, passed out.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Buckles were undone.

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“Let’s move to the breakroom!” Clark jumped out of his seat. “Which in this case is just a

roundtable. But a very cool roundtable like those knights.”

“You’re still using that one?” Zein asked, eyebrows raising.

“Nothing changed, Zeizei.” Clark answered, eyes softening.

“Is that right?” Zein said. Hints of a smile peered through. Wu climbed Zein and perched on his head.

“We gon’ leave him here?” Jejj pointed at the collapsed orc.

“Let the poor baby get some sleep.” Skada rested themself on Jejj. “He had a rough time today.”

“.....”

“Okaaaaay, keep it moving, keep it moving!” Clark ushered the 4 of them into a wide open space with a roundtable and 8 stools placed in the centre. Doors were located on all sides with little, child-like drawings of what each door led to.

Skada skipped towards a door, tracing their finger over a poorly drawn box and a stickman clothed in brown shorts and a shirt. “Aww the drawings are so cute! Who drew these!?” Skada turned to Clark. “Was it a little brother? Or sister!”

“Yeah! It was drawn by my “lil’ bro.” Clark threw his arm around Zein.

“Ahem.” Zein said.

“No shot.” Jejj blurted.

“Um… I think you did great Anodos.” Skullcracker joined Skada’s side, examining the art piece.

“Anodossss, I didn’t know you had such a cute side to you!” Skada’s face gleamed.

“I would like to put an end to this subject.” Zein proposed.

“Denied. Denied. Denied.” Clark slammed their hand into their thigh like a gavel.

“... Man.” Zein trudged to the table. Wu held on to the cat’s ears, piloting him towards a seat. “Oogie! Oogie!”

“To the round table my knights!” Clark drew his sword, raising it.

Everyone took their seat at the table while Wu sat on it. Zein dumped all the items they collected from the battle onto the table, spreading them out for all to see.

“I’ve taken the blade for myself. “ Zein showed the hilt of his brand new sword from his inventory. “What do you guys want.”

“Hmm…” Jejj stared at the spread. A pair of mole leather boots. An Arian Iron Axe. A Blue Vulture Feather Ring. A Slimified Mole Leather Chest piece.

“Takin’ the axe.” Jejj claimed their prize.

“Oooh, I’ll take the chest piece!”

“Oogie! Oogie!” Wu pointed at the ring.

“It’s yours, Wu.” Zein slid the ring on Wu’s index finger.

“Oogie-gie!” Wu stared at his new treasure.

“What about me!” Clark exclaimed.

“Here.” Zein tossed Clark a health potion.

“I’ll treasure it, Zeizei.” Clark hugged it.

“I’m sure you will.” Zein nodded. “The boots are for Torell then. Not too bad for him, he'll get some dexterity and defence.” He began tapping his thumb. “Skullcracker, do you mind handing these to Torell? If he is still knocked out, just place it in his lap.” He blinked at the man in the coat.

“Okay! Got it.” Skullcracker grabbed the boots by the collar and made for the cockpit.

Zein gathered the coins and remaining items. “So we have a mana potion, a health potion, 3 gold coins, 8 silver coins, and 10 bronze coins.”

“You guys can have the gold coins! I’ll be taking all the silver coins and potions though.” Skada's fingers crept over their winnings.

“I want 1 bronze coin.” Clark raised their finger with a smile.

“Here.” Zein flipped a coin at Clark, bouncing it off his forehead.

“Thank you.” Clark’s finger remained raised with a smile.

“Torell, Jejj and I get 3 bronze coins and a gold coin each then.” Zein concluded.

“Bet.” Jejj accepted.

Money was distributed to their rightful owners while a little stack of coins was left by the edge of the table.

“I have given Torell his boots!” Skullcracker saluted upon return.

“Great work lil pup’. Great work indeed.” Clark patted his shoulder. “Now take a seat.”

“Anything else we gotta talk about?” Jejj asked.

Clark’s smile faded, taking on a more serious expression. “We need to talk about Himmel. More specifically what we’re gonna say to him.”

“Floors yours.” Zein gestured.

“Oooh can I come to the meeting!” Skada raised their arm.

“I don’t know about the meeting, but definitely the guild!” Clark pointed at the excited armourer.

“Yippee!” Skada threw their arms in the air.

“What the story gon’ be then?” Jejj inquired.

“We talk about the cave. Skullcracker talks about whatever is happening on the inside, and Torell mentions the bullying as well.” Clark said flatly. “And we do not-” Clark paused, eyes wide, “mention the 5 v 30.”

“Why!?” Jejj replied, shocked. “Ain’t that the biggest example of it happening!?”

“We have no way of explaining why Kalel was there I’m guessing.” Zein scratched at an imaginary hangnail.

“Exacte-mundo.” Clark said.

“What if we say Kalel wasn’t there?” Skada questioned.

“I don’t think Himmel is naive enough to believe we escaped a 4 v 30?” Zein answered.

“Plus, I wanna do something very juicy with the video.” Clark let out the faintest of giggles.

“I... don't know if I should say anything but what about saying you know Anodos irl?” Skullcracker asked with hesitance. “That's what you told me at least.”

“True.” Jejj agreed.

“Maybe... But then there'd be a permanent target on Zeizei. Guilds would use him to get to me.” Clark answered. “Plus, he won’t let me give him bodyguards.” he shrugged.

“I’d rather restart than have that. I’ve only invested about 8 hours anyway.” Zein sighed. “Kalel said my name as well, or well my nickname.”

“That’s true… Sorry.” Clark watched the ground.

“It’s alright, don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.” Zein patted Clark’s shoulder. “Sooner or later, this was bound to happen. I don’t trust Skull Kidds to not leak, so, we might as well stall as much as possible.”

“Got it.” The defeated guild leader replied.

“How long until we reach?” Zein asked, attempting to change topics.

“Well,” Skada dragged while squinting at a blue screen. “It should be a couple more minutes!”

“Hell yeah. I’m heading back to the cockpit then.”

Zein left his seat, grabbing Torell's money and dragging his feet to the front of the ship. Wu hopped onto Zein's back in the process. Jejj and Skada made their way to Stargaze while Skullcracker conversed with Clark at the roundtable.

Inside the cockpit, Zein dropped into his chair. Wu crawled over Zein and curled into a ball in his lab. The cat observed the unreachable polygons through the windshield- tail swinging with pauses. He attempted to contextualise the past few hours and minutes, head throbbing the more he thought.

“Politics again…”

Zein’s stare went blank as the ship darted toward its destination.

“Eugh… Wha happen.” Torell held his head. “Wha!”

Torell tossed the boots into the air. With a toss and a turn, one of the boots landed on his head.

“Take care of your boots, Torell.” Zein handed Torell his coins and Wu returned his boot. “Oogie!”

“O-oh, these are for me?” Torell studied it. “Thank you.” he bowed.

“Don’t worry about it, and look it seems like we’re here.”

In the distance, a planet painted in red and orange with the occasional splotches of blue. With god’s grace, they headed for the brighter side of the planet. Awe washed over the three of them. A new planet. One they had never seen. It was Torell’s first, and it wouldn’t be Zein’s last. He’d make sure it wasn’t.