Blezeren Krysis - (DIMENSION: ZERO - LOCATION: STRAY CITY, EX-SOUTHERN QUADRANT, REALM CITY):

Stray City often got a bad reputation because we harbored a few criminals and some areas were too toxic to live in. Besides that, the city was a beautiful scene if you ignored the dull grey walls that separated us from Realm City.

Me and my daughter, Kylien, sat on our balcony, observing other residents mull around on the streets, most of them likely high off their minds. The catwalks connecting the stacks creaked as more people than it could handle crossed them, crying out that if any more people crossed then it might just-

SNAP!

Screams resounded out a few blocks away, but Kylien didn't seem to notice, as she was engrossed in the people below.

"Why don't they help us?" She asked, still looking down at the people below.

"They don't want to," I replied.

"But they could fix all of this, couldn't they?" She asked as she turned to face me.

"They could, but they won't," I said, looking to the Central Region where all the elites lived.

Even with infinite materials, the Southern Region lived in poverty which is why it seceded from Realm City and the United Realm Empire around twenty-five years ago. The Northern Quadrant stayed after being bribed with better living conditions, although they were also going to secede with us as well. I couldn't blame the previous king and queen either, since they had also tried to argue against the mistreatment of the southern quadrant, but then had several near-death assassination attempts in one day.

I stroked Kylien's hair as I watched the horizon, knowing that I could've been one of the abusers had Adithi Kaur not opened my eyes to the truth. After a while, I felt her breathe lightly as she fell asleep, and I began to feel drowsy myself, but then I saw her.

Walking across the catwalk to our home was a cloaked figure, her navy blue eyes glittering in the sunlight. Those were her only features that showed, but I still knew who it was just by them.

"Maneeha," I announced her identity before she took off her hood.

"Hello Blezeren," she said as she sat down next to me.

"Thought you skipped town?" I asked her once she was seated.

"And I thought you were dead, yet here we are," she retorted.

"That's fair," I admitted, "What do you want?"

"Nothing big, I just need your help"

"With?"

"Do you remember those stories our parents used to tell us about?" She said as she turned to face me, "Specifically the ones about the Winds Of Destiny?"

My eyes went wide as I scanned her face for any indication that this was a joke.

"NO WAY!" I yelled, forgetting that Kylien was still asleep.

As she stirred in her sleep, I started to speak, but Maneeha started before me.

"Here's the thing, Blezeren, you don't have an option. Look at her head."

I looked back, and right in the middle of her forehead was a small red dot from a sniper reticle. I traced the origin right to the building across from us, where I could see a man standing just behind the window. There was also another sniper directly across from me, but I already knew he was aiming at me.

"Maneeha, you're forgetting who I am," I said, with cold anger seeping through my veins, "Don't you remember that I could easily kill us all if I want to?"

"Yes, you could, but that would mean ALL of us, including your daughter," She said as I remembered what I had to lose, "Even if she does survive, I have several more snipers who're aimed right at her."

I looked around at the surrounding buildings and saw four of the sniper glints out of the apparent several through windows and on the rooftops.

"If I do this, will Kylien be safe?" I asked Maneeha while making sure Kylien rested.

"You have my word, also, start calling me Frenzil," She requested as she got up, "But we do need insurance that you won't go rogue."

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

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"AGH!" I yelped as I felt a prick on the back of my neck.

I felt around back there and pulled out a small feather-like bullet.

"Kylien," I gasped as I turned around to see that she too had a tranq dart in her neck.

My vision started fading as I looked up at Maneeha's face, who genuinely seemed sorry. Beside her, a man picked up Kylien and started walking away.

"I'm sorry Blezeren," Was the last thing I heard before everything faded to black.

* * *

I woke up to the Kraken getting ready to transcend, as a beautiful aurora enveloped us, a cascade of incredible colors ranging from turquoise to a bright white, and down to blood red.

"Glad you're awake, did you dream well honey-pie?" Ostin teased as he steered the Kraken.

"I wish I could say 'Yes' to that," I answered back.

Ostin was a burly being, with pale red skin. He had five tentacles on his head that served as both appendages and hair. He had no limbs, but rather tentacles that replaced his arms and legs.

"Maybe next time mate," Crusteza suggested.

Crusteza was a tall humanoid made out of purple slime with no definite shape. Her hair was a black colored sludge that dripped off her head and onto the ground below. She had two pink beads where her eyes should've been, but other than she had no facial features and was completely transparent.

"Maybe next time," I repeated as I remembered why I had to do this.

I had to save my daughter, no matter the cost.

Aadil Karim - (DIMENSION: NINETY-SEVEN - LOCATION: SAN MARCOS, TEXAS):

The small black screen on the flat box whirred to life as I watched on in extreme boredom.

"Today's subject will be World Religions," The teacher who hated her job announced.

Of course, nobody was paying attention, as they were all more interested in table football or their phones.

"I hate all of you," I saw her silently mouth when she thought nobody was looking.

She just walked back to his desk after a few minutes when she realized nobody was paying attention. I was bored out of my mind, as we had been camping out here for a month. By now, even the Empire would've located us again, but we were still just waiting for Frenzil. I got up and started to leave the classroom, ignoring the instructor's queries until she just gave up on asking like usual.

I walked into the hallway and saw Randall pushing around a younger kid, possibly a freshman. I got up behind him and tapped on his shoulder, and when he turned around and saw me, he backed away immediately.

"My bad man!" He said as he started walking away backwards, before tripping over his shoelace.

I had accidentally scared Randall a few weeks ago when I tracked him home after he'd bullied Max and Chris. He lived in a rather rich neighborhood with a loving family, so he had no reason to be so mean. I waited for him outside all night and eventually got tired, so I went into his room through his window.

When he came out, I asked him to stop being mean to my friends, and he got really scared for some reason and asked how I got into his house, but that wasn't relevant, and I told him that. He promised to stop being mean if I left, so I took his word for it and went back to the warehouse.

Ever since then, he has run away whenever I approach him to say hello. I paid him no mind and left the campus, as Max had told me of this store where they served frozen sweets called "Ice cream".

This world seemed to have most of the same laws as Realm City, so I was able to fit in quite well, and eventually, I was standing in front of a glass counter holding back the desserts. I gave a few crumpled-up pieces of green paper that had "one hundred" printed on them.

"I'd like some ice cream," I said as the cashier took the papers and stared at them.

"Uh sure, what flavor?" She asked.

"Sure," I answered back.

As she started scooping the buckets filled with what I assumed was iced cream, I looked around the small quaint shop. In the corner was an elderly couple while at another were two parents feeding their infant child small spoons.

There was a flat black box, or television as it was called here, in the upper-left corner with pictures playing on it. It reminded me of our holo-screens back in Realm City, but this one wasn't see-through and was a lot thicker.

"As you can see here, there seems to be ripples in the air," The person in the box announced as the camera captured nothing but a normal scene of people walking through the city.

"The news gets faker every year," The elder woman scoffed as she watched on.

"Wait, something's happe-" The young journalist was cut off as she combusted.

"Oh shit!" I heard the man from the family yell out.

People all along the streets started to burn as the air cracked and started to part. Then I saw it, something I'd only ever seen in storybooks that told of an ancient army as terrifying as their leader.

As the camera fell backward, the Celestial Kraken tore through the opening, and with it descended hundreds of creatures which I assumed to be Darkblades. The screen then switched to a scene of a man sitting behind a counter, much like a news reporter.

"What you folks just saw was footage recovered one hour ago, the Pentagon has deemed it useful knowledge for the USA," He said with fear in his eyes, "They are hoping other nations will follow us and show this footage to their people. Countries that have announced an international emergency include the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Turkey, and Egypt."

The screen switched once again to a scene of a large clock crumbling as Darkblades surged through the city behind it. It switched again and again, through different locations that showed the same scene of a city in ruins.

"The president is now urging citizens to head to their nearest bomb shel-" He was cut off as the screen went dark, along with the shop's lights.

"There's no way that's real, that had to be some sort of promotion for a movie," The woman behind the counter proclaimed.

"It's real, and I think you guys should do what they said," I said as I pressed a button on my watch.

The others looked on in awe as my magenta shirt enclosed my body and the magenta-streaked black overcoat descended from my shoulders. My metallic black and silver helmet crept up from my shoulders and enclosed my head. The battery pack hummed to life on my back, the swords' handles ejecting out from it and into the backs of my hands. I attached them to their connection points on my sleeve and pulled out my guns from their holsters. I connected them to the battery pack and left the shop as I headed towards the school to get Alisha.