Lian -"Where are we going?”, she asked after hours of watching the same barren vistas and weirdly slow rising sun.

Blitz scoffed at her question and sent angry scowls at the rest to make the duo less chatty. The Captain was almost ready to bite back until Goidel gently elbowed him. - “He is kinda right, you know? I understand that you want to play your games with them, but she is also in the right to be curious.”

Krass -” Well, miss, I don’t get the opportunity that often to wow people with what comes next, so what do you say we play a traveling game to pass the time ?” He then used his cat characteristics to charm the duo with his big, round eyes.

Ogda was immediately persuaded and agreed. Lian, yawning from a night of barely sleeping, lazily waved her palm up and down.

Krass -” Questions then! You get to ask one, and we serve it back. Alright?”, to which both nodded. “And none about our current destination. You first.”

Lian -” Bastard”, groaned the redhead. She knew what her question should be, and almost asked it, but then stopped. After which she asked Ogda to stretch down to a whispering distance -” What do you say, should we ask about the pact thing?”

Ogda -” Well, whatever you say is fine by me.“ Ogda didn’t even take a moment to think things out this time, which made Lian feel weirdly content for a second. Followed by a slight twist in her stomach and an irritation with both the water monster, and herself.

Lian -” I guess that’s what I want. But what do you think we should ask?

The monster was a bit confused by the occasional acidity in her voice and wasn’t sure why she insisted on it. “ Are you feeling ok? Are you tired?” he asked insistently, while his unblinking eye got closer and closer to her face.

Lian -” No...I’m fine. Just tired…maybe”, she shrugged, then addressed the hunters. “ You mentioned something about a pact. Between humans and your kind?”

-” Firgs, not your kind”, replied with venom Blitz, which concerned both of his colleagues. The Captain took him aside while leaving Goidel to answer the question.

Krass -” You’ve got this, boy”, which did not encourage the bird-masked warrior.

Goidel -” Right…” Goidel paused for a few seconds. “ Sorry for Blitz. He’s been a bit woozy…for a while now. And when Krass was chosen as Captain for this mission, it…spurned something. They’ve been kinda equal in the Union, but now that his rival’s a rank over him, well…”

Ogda -” I don’t get it”, replied Ogda naively, not really comprehending the issue between them.

Goidel -” Anyway, the pact. Yes… So, I read all the books in our library about it, but to keep this brief, it’s just like it sounds. A human and a firg pick or make a totem to create a bond between them. After which they can share their powers to aid each other. And by the look on your face, I’m guessing you have no idea what I’m talking about, miss? Girly?”

Lian -” Lian is fine. So, power? What are you…” she tried to ask before being interrupted by Krass and a visibly dejected Blitz. Who then, somewhat sincerely, apologized to them…in a monotonous voice, repeating a verse like a bored child.

Blitz -“ I let my animosity get the better of me and I shouldn’t have acted so rude to you…Is that ok?” he dejectedly asked Krass at the end.

Krass -” Perfect. Now, back to the game. It’s our turn, right? So then…you”, he intentionally pressed the last letter when addressing Ogda. “ I know some elementals, but none are transmuted by their element like you are. And you are still able to think. Curious… So then, my question is”, he paused for dramatic effect, “Where do you see yourself in the next five years?”

Lian was bewildered by the question, but then even more by Ogda’s serious response- “ By Lian’s side, as her guardian and probable pact partner.” He was sternly convinced that this was his path in life, while the girl was unsure what the next day would bring. Still, it brought a bit of assurance knowing that he would be there for her, but also a bit of concern about how quickly he attached his loyalties to her.

Then, an intrusive thought went out of her mouth without her permission-”…but what if I turn out to be a bad person?”

The water firg scratched the tip of his smooth head, confused by the ‘silly question’.

Ogda- ” That’s fine. I don’t think it would bother me that much.”

Lian -” But…”, but she stopped. It was just a passing thought, nothing to be concerned about- “ Ok…I’m just probably jinxing myself, let’s forget it. Our turn then. Ogda?”

Ogda -” Right. So, what are those weapons you’ve got? From what I can tell, some look like they're part of your body“, he remarked, pointing towards Blitz’s gauntlets.

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Blitz and Goidel, for the first time, had the same annoyed look and shouted in unison to “ Keep it brief” towards a surprised Krass.

Krass -” Fine, fine. So…our God”, to which his colleagues mumbled under their breath, while Krass ignored them, “ Made the world. Probably. And we, the firgs all rose from a primordial source they brought or created; the scriptures are still vague about that-”

The girl’s ears perked at the mythology, as it was eerily familiar; more than, though, it already started like most creation myths she read about…before. “Huh…guess I found an old interest of mine”.

Krass- “Unlike Terra’s creations, we’re not entirely…solid? It’s a weird way to put it, but we firgs are still malleable, capable of changing forms at certain points in our lives. It takes multiple elements put together to trigger this, like: age, experience, materials and personal inspiration; We can’t directly choose how to change, but we can guide it. Blitz, for example, is a fan of humans flying inventions. Which is how, after years of obsessing over, gathering parts, building tons of models…his body copied characteristics of them and made him into this ugly block of steel and flesh.”

Blitz -” Says the zealous cat lover. I’ll buy the fact that there’s a flying city of a beast out there, but the God thing is way too much. Probably also just an overtly powerful firg; I still don’t understand how that tale made you into a believer, though. You weren’t…”

Before the two could devolve into a shouting match, they reached the tail end of the world. Literally. Goidel jumped ahead of everyone and, with his index finger, he touched the horizon.

Goidel -” Ta da…”, he proclaimed awkwardly like he was a performer. Fortunately for him, the act was good enough to leave the duo dumbfounded. “WHAT?!”, they asked in sheer surprise, while Krass snorted angrily as he wanted to present it.

The world, after all, has an end, where the skies can be touched. Or, as Goidel tried to academically explain it, “A layer covers it, the land, everything around here. A shell, let’s say, that mimics types of skies and weather patterns… randomly, is my guess for now.” He then stopped to take a break and relax his breathing from too much talking.

Krass -” Also, there are multiple biomes like this. Or layers, as we call them. Divided by a space which can’t be easily crossed. I did find some descriptions of it in Goidel’s library back home. The few firgs that can travel it tell of a colorless void, stagnant in its lack of motion or rhythm. There is no sound, no light or energy, just a lack of anything.”

Blitz tried to add his bits of knowledge to add to what his traveling companions were lacking. He was short in his words, but his loud tone made up for the lack of the usual arrogance. They learned that each layer is of different sizes, they are either stacked on one another, parallel to each other, or like in their current one, which-

-“ it's like a satellite, around the size of a medium country in the human world. And right now it’s hovering around a large layer, a continental one the size of those Americas from Earth. Can’t remember which one.” Blitz then ended with a pointy-“ Do you get it?”

Lian was now wondering how they made the proverbial jump from their land to this one. Krass, as if replying to her thoughts, pointed towards an assembled stone formation in the middle of an empty field. It wasn’t natural, that was clear, but now came the question of who built it like that.

Krass - “Ah, the magnificent workings of God’s Divine Beast”, Krass yelled out proudly. “ At least I had time to wow you with this one. But yes, this little thing here was built by something out there, somewhere, A Deity and its Enormous Beast”, he enunciated loudly, to the groans of his colleagues -“, a giant with golden scales covering its body, and crystal tips at the end of its fingers. Or at the tail, people are still arguing about that.”

Lian -” Not to sound rude, but how do you know if that’s real? I mean, from what I can tell, you all believe that the monster is real, but not the god. Why is that?”, the girl tried to ask as politely and skeptically as possible.

Krass -” Yes, even our malleable world is filled with skeptics. I was one of them.”, " remarked the Captain, glancing sadly at his teammates. “ Years ago I met the survivors of a certain incident. We all did, but they left a real impression on me. Before they were survivors, they were witnesses. Of the Beast rushing through the shell of their world. A second, clear sky and the next, it just flew by, casting its shadow over half of the layer before disappearing. Then, a ball of blinding light shined in the distance, followed by a shriek of unimaginable proportions, heard by hundreds of layers.

Goidel -'' I read some records of that incident. It said that the shriek sounded like it was talking”, added Goidel. “But that was never confirmed because everyone close to it lost their hearing or passed out instantly from the noise. Over 600 thousand victims was a rough estimation, I think.”

-” That’s horrible”, was the only thing the two could reply with.

Krass -” No one found out the source of the light, or the shriek, but there was a sort of happy ending though.”, smirked Krass as if he won a gold medal. “ The Divine Beast brought with it… God. A small being as some said, but mighty enough to command the enormous creature. When it talked in its weird language, the Beast did as instructed. No one could see itself, only hear their words. “

Ogda -” Hear? But didn’t you say” wanted Ogda to interject, but then realized what happened.

Krass -” Yap”, quickly added the Captain. “It healed one village, then moved on to the other, and so on for all the affected layers. That was the day we learned more about those above us. And I saw that they are caring, which in turn made me…happy.” He tried to hide his proud remark, but Lian could tell that the Captain wasn’t just a true believer, but a devoted one as well.

The girl didn’t know how to reply to that, so in turn tried to change the subject -” So they put together these rocks? Are they connected somehow to another formation like this? Is that how you travel?”

Blitz -” Oh, I’ll give it to ya girl, except for manners, you catch on quickly”. Blitz’s attitude towards them still seemed to waver between first impressions and current image of them. But Lian wasn’t interested in keeping a long-term friendship with him anyway, and Ogda only really valued the girl’s opinion over most anyway. “ By the way, zealous Captain, can we go already? The cocoon has been a bit skiddly for a while now”, he added, a bit concerned.

Krass slowly and carefully approached one of the stones, shaped like a pillar, as if concerned that he might wake it up. A whispered word covered every step, and for each one, a sliver of blue, red, green, and white streaks would appear on the side of the pillar. When he got closer, he gently pressed on one of them, and with the tip of his finger moved a tinted line. There were no striations on the rock, but somehow his fingertip grabbed the color and guided it on his demanded path.

Lian -” Is this really the only way to travel?” asked Lian, bewildered by the method required. Goidel waved his palm to indicate that there were others, but this was probably the best way for now. “Those methods are a bit out of reach. For now, hopefully.”

A sudden static change in the air let them know that Krass finished his ritual. The portal he created was a small one, considering their group, but was still good enough to fit all of them if they entered it one by one. As a show of good faith, the Captain was the first one to pass through it, with their spoils from the hunt as well. Blitz, mostly forced by the former, followed secondly and Ogda insisted that he should be the one to enter next. “ I need to make sure that it’s safe for you, ok?”

Lian -” But I’ll be right after you, so you’ll only be a second, or two ahead of me? Right?... Goidel, how long does it take to teleport to the other side?”

Goidel -” Teleport? Oh no, you got it all wrong. Sorry, I didn’t…I mean the Captain…I mean”, he stopped, grabbing his breath after fumbling his words. “The portal forms a physical tunnel to the other layer, made out of rocks and dirt and other minerals. We’ll be walking.”

With that information on board, Ogda gave up on hiding his abilities and bent his body to create a space where Lian could sit on his back. Goidel was surprised by this, and even felt panicked for a second, before brushing it aside as his usual paranoia. After which he posed a brazen request.

Goidel -” Can you make space for one more?”