A Walteran grandmother and her grandchild lay peacefully inside their cottage, their eyes long shut and satisfied from the cozy reading session. As midnight blankets the future age of peace, a mirror reflects back to a distant past where... a group of friends unites once more.

___________________________________________________________________________

Dave "YO YO YO! What's up, bros? It's been a while. This reminds me of the Kanji chatting program but it doesn't have my sick-ass username."

Kanji "Glad to see you're as lively as ever, Dave. For a sec, I thought no one would pick up."

Azan "Have a little more faith, Kanji. We're capable enough to meet deadlines."

Mina "Azzy! Omg! How are you?! Are you okay?!"

Azan "No need to shout, Mina. I'm all good."

Claire "I MISS YOU KANEY <3!"

Gwen "Me too <3"

Amelia "Greetings, ladies and gents."

Dave "Sup, babe."

Sarah "The greetings are cool and all but me and Diana are in a hurry for some help ASAP!"

Diana "Yeah, our little new over here is out cold and might be dying."

Adrian "Our situation is more hectic."

Noah "Yeah, hectic is not what I would say. It's life-threateningly bad! But... kinda sick though."

Sarah "Oh? Now you got me curious :)"

Diana "SARAH! NOT NOW!"

Kanji "Slow down, everyone. As much as I'd love for us to chatter and destress, I believe each of us is in dangerous predicaments. So let's make this chat group for reports and assistance only. No bickering unless we unanimously have no immediate issues. Is everything clear?"

Diana "Got it, boss?"

Sarah "No probs."

Dave "Okay, I'll chill down on my typing action, dude."

Amelia "I see no quarrel with that plan."

Claire "Oh, man... Okay, I guess it is fair."

Gwen "Claire, you know we also have issues. Don’t try to hide it. I also find your plan most genius, Kaney."

Azan "Simple and clear. Just the way I like it."

Mina "Yeah, that sounds good."

Adrian "Okay, that's a good plan, but can we start?! The ice on the door won’t last long!"

Noah "Yeah, please hurry!"

Kanji "Since you guys seem to have the most urgent situation, you go first."

Noah "First off, Evolan is a complete shit hole! It's crawling with a lot of mutant but cool grotesque monsters which are the literal 'residents' of this place. We also made a coat out of one of them, and it scares off the smaller little shits."

Adrian "We then stumbled upon a giant bunker and found journals from an Ordan exploration group that was trying to find an unaltered Evolen. They were obviously dead, hunted by a mass of red arms which we also encountered. It's freakishly fast and can regenerate using the mountain of corpses at the bottom of the bunker. I surmise that fighting this creature would be fatal since we would tire long before the mountain of corpses dwindles."

Noah "Then we locked ourselves behind a door and froze it with Adrian's shield, which by the way was super useful. Thanks, Gwen!"

Gwen "No problem. I can see your situation and I have the perfect device in mind for this specific occupation, but I would need to teach its functionality to Claire before making it."

Diana "Hey, Adrian! Once we meet up again, we will need to train on your stamina :D"

Sarah "Hey, Noah. Were the arms flayed?"

Noah "Yes they were."

Sarah "That is so cool."

Kanji "Hey, no bickering. Speaking of which, you're group is up."

Sarah "We entered a huge library and befriended a cool but broke octo-girl named Sai. We were planning on finding a book to test our strength."

Diana "But assholes found us trespassing and Sai decided to fight it alone, but she got poisoned. We don't know what to do next!"

Gwen "It's alright. Good thing you guys have me. I want you to take a sample of her blood and send it over. I'll analyze it and make an antidote."

Diana "Thanks, Gwen. I'm on it."

Kanji "OK, while Diana takes in the blood, let's hear from Mina's group."

Mina "Everything is pretty chill. No help needed guys."

Amelia "Lass, that was anything but chill. We just encountered a couple of sketchy monsters with weird powers, but we fought them off. Well... our friend was knocked unconscious by one of them. Don't worry since she doesn’t have any serious injuries."

Mina "Oh! There are also two crazy groups fighting each for land and stuff."

Sarah "Yo, same here!"

Kanji "Ahem... Anyway, Dave and Azan, you guys are next."

Dave "All good, my dude. We smoked the hell of them pussies."

Azan "I'll make it short. We started in the sewers, fought some rats carrying goods, took the goods, a guide taught us about Tradan, we sold the goods but were instantly ambushed, fought them off, and saved a few innkeepers, earning ourselves infinite rents."

Kanji "You guys seem well off. Claire? Gwen? What's the issue on your end?"

Claire "Well good news first. WE LEVELED UP!"

Kanji "What?!"

Dave "Dude! No shot!"

Claire "Before you guys go and complain, it was sort of obvious, you know."

Gwen "The Origens are quite peaceful and their goal of unification aligns with ours, so the elders made us leaders in training. The system counts that as a level-up and grants me the ability to destroy solid matter."

Claire "I have 30 slots now! And I can change items without doing the whole absorbing nonsense. The problem we have now is that we need literal shit ."

Gwen "She means fertilizers. We are doing farming a side quest and are hoping that we could convert all of our healing supplies into fertilizers."

Kanji "Wow... you need that much?"

Gwen "With the number of Origens in the village and this farm being their only food source, I’d say this is the minimum."

Claire "Don't worry! I'll immediately convert my new slots into healing stuff tomorrow. 15 of each should be plenty."

Sarah "Yeah, no problem with that, sis. I'm a little jelly about that level-up, though."

Diana "Not to worry, I promise that we will catch up and be the second group to level up!"

Dave "Pft! With a gorilla brain like you, you would be last since you can't read! HAHAHAHA!"

Azan "Knock it off, Dave. Anyway, 15 of each sounds sufficient, and if necessary, my group can purchase healing supplies from the shops I spotted earlier."

Adrian "A level-up would be quite nice right about now."

Noah "Yeah, what's worse is that we have to kill everything in this place to do that."

Sarah "Aw what?! You guys decided to kill everything. I won't get to see all the cool shit :("

Noah "Sorry, it was kinda given since the Evolens can't talk or be reasoned with."

Amelia "A part of me is glad we didn't get assigned there. The place sounds horrendous!"

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Mina "I mean, Soulan isn't any better, but at least we can catch our breath. Hey, Gwen! Where's Izzy?"

Gwen "Izzy is... missing, but I'm confident she's alive out there."

Kanji "That's great news. I guess it's my turn. Anything else before I start?"

Diana "By the way, I sent the blood sample to storage, boss number two."

Gwen "Got it. The antidote and the device will be ready 30 minutes before midnight."

Kanji "Good, that's resolved. Now, for my end. I saved a Tradan merchant who gave me a place to stay, but I didn't tell the authorities, so they sent me to a trial inside Ordan's royal court. I met the leaders, princes, and the king himself, who were voting on whether to let me stay in Ordan. I was fated to be exiled, but I told him to his face that I would conquer his land. It was a gamble, but the king liked my spirit and voted for me to stay."

Dave "That is a gigachad move, my dude."

Kanji "Thanks. I hope everyone's issues are resolved for now. I'm going to shut this meeting down before anyone notices me. See you tomorrow evening."

Diana "Gotcha, boss."

Sarah "Peace!"

Dave "Cya, bro!"

Azan "Adios!"

Mina "SEE YA EVERYONE! PLEASE STAY SAFE!"

Claire "Yeah, everyone be careful and I see you all next time :3"

Gwen "Goodbye."

Amelia "Cheerio, my friends!"

Noah "Bye guys."

Adrian "Farewell!"

___________________________________________________________________________

Elsewhere, a Castastrian scientist impatiently waits for a response from the outside world. Beyond the rebel's translucent base, rows of armored soldiers and machines stand armed and ready to fire. Despite the frustrating passage of time, their line of attack remains firm, which the scientist suspects is due to an organized schedule of shifts. In a way, they are like cogs interwoven and turning to fuel The Empire's goals and The Empress's every desire.

Voltum "Disgusting. They are like puppets."

Josai "You should chill, you miserable pile of shit. You should also change your dirty ass yellow shirt. There’s so much oil that I can't tell the difference between it and your brown pants. Also, it fucking stinks."

Voltum "What did you say you f— You know what? I'm not gonna get into it. Besides, I can't change here of all places and you know that!"

Susana "Woah, now that is something you don't see every day. Am I right, AN?"

AN "Yeah. Voltum decided to back out of an argument. Honestly, I'm proud."

Josai "Guys! Don't praise him! You agree with me that he stinks, right? ICO? ICA? TIO?"

Tio "Such childish nonsense."

ICO/ICA "We don't sense smell, Josai."

Josai "Oh, right! Anyway, I bet he’s just embarrassed about how small his little Voltum is."

Voltum "Woah, hold it right there! AN! Susana! She's sexually harassing me!—

Josai leaps to close in on Voltum, and they wrestle, the others sighing in disappointment when—

Voltum "Wait! Stop! I think they are calling us."

Tio "Finally. I must say that communicating with an earpiece is a brilliant and close call. I caught a glimpse of more pheromone catchers yesterday."

Voltum "Those two associates of yours are quite skilled and responsive. I might recruit them into my own personal science group."

Josai "Pft! Nobody wants to work in front of a computer like an in-bug all day. It’s better for them to touch dirt and join my crew instead."

Susana "Okay, settle down. Let’s hear their report."

Voltum stands up and presses the earpiece on the right side of his head.

Xeros "Testing. Testing. Hello? Xeros to... Volturm, right? Or is this granny Tio?"

Voltum " I'm Voltum. How's the teleporter doing?"

Kaja "It took like forever to charge up."

Xeros "But we exited the place as soon as it charged up, just like you told us yesterday."

Voltum "Where are you right now?"

Xeros "Hiding, but with a much better view of the city. We can see everything from here."

Voltum "Why hide?"

Xeros "We are umm... actually you should introduce yourself first."

Voltum "Fair. I'm Voltum Battera, Chief Engineer Scientist and Hacker of the Rebellion Army. Granny Tio is our leader's grandmother."

Kaja "What?! She never told us that she was a rebel!"

Xeros "There's no point in being mad now since we are also fugitives, sub-generals of the third general, Karnat Karlac."

Voltum "Now that is unexpected. Since we have a mutual relationship, I won't make any complaints. Please report your findings."

Xeros "I'm assuming everyone is hiding in that giant metal egg in the center of that massive crater. The number of machines and soldiers has doubled since yesterday, enough to cover the crater and extend even to the outer rim."

Kaja "Those cruel bastards even tore down some of Commonasa's buildings and dragged some folks out, suspecting them to be rebels."

Xeros "Interrogation includes public space torture."

Voltum "Didn't need to hear that. What about the Empire's survey group?"

Xeros "Yeah, it's strange, but the search parties were disbanded entirely."

Kaja "Those guys tots think you have no way to escape."

Voltum "Ha! What a bunch of idiots! That's good... anything else?"

Xeros "Yeah, we spotted about 50 imperial fleets being loaded up with strange new soldiers, who are extremely biomechanical."

Kaja "We can barely tell them apart from actual robots. They also have ten arms, which is overkill."

Xeros "One of those arms also held something odd. It was a sword, but a plain one that emits no energy. In all my years of serving the Empire, I've never seen such confirmation of this primitive-looking technology.

Voltum "Yeah, from my database and all my exploits, there was never any info on that. It must be tightly secured. As for the soldiers, I believe they are called A.C.E. soldiers or Adaptable Camouflaging Elite soldiers, which does what the name says. Any idea why they're loading up so many fleets?"

Kaja "Don't know, really. The ships were facing Aeternum though... I'm not one hundred percent sure."

Voltum "I see. Is that all?"

Kaja/Xeros "Yes."

Voltum "Good. I'll contact you when needed."

Voltum turns to his crew and relays all the info he just heard.

Susana "Those bastards! How could they do that?! I'm going out there and—

Voltum "And what? Fail and retreat again? We need a proper and more concrete plan."

Josai "Voltum you little bit-

Tio "Silence! The boy is right. Your last spectacle was rather rash and improper. We need another plan. One I fortunately have, though we are limited."

AN "Yeah, with only one teleporter, there isn't much we can do."

Tio "Child, quality isn't the problem; quantity is. Voltum boy. Can you create clones that possess the traits of multiple people?"

Voltum "Well, there are certain conditions to keep in mind in attempting such an unfamiliar method of mitosis. First, I would need to test if our genes are compatible, and then I need to program a way to stitch them together using the machine. Plus, I need to consider the form of the clone, as all cloning methods require a base blueprint and—

Tio "Just make it happen! And quit your yapping!"

Voltum "Yes, madam."

Josai "Damn, I wish he could listen to me like that. What will the rest of us do?"

Granny Tio gives Susana a knowing look, and the commander sighs.

Susana "Time to make a boring, long, and overly complicated plan for hours I guess."

The others nod, acknowledging there is no other way out of this mess.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, The Judge and Seer manage to climb over the high peak north of the village. There, sitting on the edge is the village's new god and their newfound friend, his gaze fixed on a faraway place. A silence envelops the scenery as the pair decides to sit beside him.

Karnat "Have you two ever gotten lost in life? Where the weight of your fate sinks you down into a sea of doubt."

They give him a sad look in response.

Karnat "I see... so we are kindred spirits with roles so grand that it shouldn't be granted to mere mortals. Let alone... a failure."

Verto "Karnat... we-

Meytaz "Okay! Enough of this sad philosophical bullshit! This is now and that is the past! We should just accept it!"

Karnat "What? I don't understand. That is not helping."

Meytaz "Okay, let me tell you a story about two outcasts of the village. A pair of freaky kids who everyone treated unfairly just because of their appearance. To brighten up their existence, they pulled pranks and caused trouble for the village. They were treated as troublemakers and failures in their society. One day, the elder proclaimed the duo as The Judge and The Seer, suddenly changing their lives forever. From that day on, everyone treated the outcasts like gods despite the failures and reputation of their past."

Karnat "I see, so that's your story... I don't see how that's going to cheer me up. You guys didn't have responsibility before that, but I did, and I failed... again and again. Given another grand purpose, I'm afraid to fail once more."

Verto "Hey, who said that we didn't fail after that."

Karnat "Huh?"

Meytaz "Yeah, Karnat. I can't remember the number of times we failed. Honestly, I think we're the worst Judge and Seer in all of our village's history."

Karnat "Really? How do you cope with that many failures?"

Meytaz "Oh, I see what's going on. You grew up in a society where failure comes with big punishments. We have punishments too, but they are mild."

Karnat "The guilt that comes from failure is more painful than the actual punishment. At least, that's my worldview."

Verto "Sheesh. Hey, we sometimes feel that too, but... you want to know how we deal with it."

Meytaz "It's all about the benefits, Karnat! Enjoy the perks like sweet honey, and your guilt will wash away."

Karnat "I... never thought about that. When I was a general, my compass always guided me to meet expectations, never acknowledging the benefit of my position. In a sense, I'm no different from an ordinary Castastrian. Meytaz, Verto, thank you. I feel so much better."

Verto "Anyway, I'm super excited to check out your cool new powers."

Meytaz "Yeah, dude. How does it work?"

Karnat "I've thought about it for a while and sort of understand it. The best way to describe it is filling up an empty space or scene. Back then, I pictured a tall cliff with me sitting on it, and I ended up here."

Verto "So it's a roundabout way of teleporting, but it has to be something that exists and there has to be an empty space."

Meytaz "Oh! You can use it to redirect attacks!"

Karnat "That is useful. So, which of my siblings should I help out first—

A feminine but exhausted voice rings out of nowhere, greeting the trio.

Marsagoz "Greeting, little brother."

Meytaz/Verto "We greet you, milady, Goddess Marsagoz."

Marsagoz "I haven't introduced myself yet, and you already knew. You two are quite faithful. Anyhow, I won't drag this conversation out. It would be best for you to pursue my mission first, as the source of my curse is nearby. To be honest, I have witnessed my idiot brother's suffering, and it wasn't pretty. I wish to not experience the same pain."

Karnat "I see... sister? Can I call you that?"

Marsagoz "Why, of course, dear Karnat. And by that look of yours, you are ready to accept. I have searched eons for the source of my curse and found an answer. Me, Earthas, Jupiteroth, and Neptunez have a part of our souls split similarly to our big brother Suntarus. But our souls are inserted into the inhabitants of each planet, hidden, only to awaken upon close proximity to any one of us, which... includes you."

Karnat "So I need to hunt down these hidden creatures. Wait! What if they are one of the villagers?"

Marsagoz "Ease your worry. I assure you that they are all wild animals within the many terrains of this part of the planet. Oh, I recommend The Judge and The Seer to rely on their hunting abilities, since these creatures are unaffected by their powers, in addition to having some of my traits."

Karnat "Oh great... so what is the first creature?"

Marsagoz "That would be Hylix. Good luck!"

Verto "A Hylix of all things. This is gonna be a pain."

Karnat "What exactly is it?"

Meytaz "It's a little feline creature with eight legs like an arachnid and a shapeshifting tail that can switch from a saw to a needle for injecting venom. Vicious little buggers that avoid large creatures and hunt at night. At certain times of the year, they like to group up and hunt bigger creatures. Unfortunately for us, this is not that time. Oh! If they overfeed, their skin produces an acidic slime that can melt flesh."

Verto "Looks like we need the entire village's help for this... otherwise, it will take forever."

Karnat "Shit. I'm not good at convincing them."

Meytaz "Shush! Leave them to us. You already have enough emotional baggage to carry."

Karnat "Before we leave, what is this cliff called?"

Meytaz "Skira's Peak."

Karnat "I'll be sure to remember that. Let's go."

The trio smiles, and Karnat teleports the group to an empty spot in the village that he can see. The twins immediately begin to relay the grand mission their god has bestowed upon them, and a plan begins to form. The villagers, hearing of the divine task, gather in earnest, offering their skills and knowledge to hunt down the many Hylixes nearby as midnight falls upon this day.