“Cal?” Wule asked, his voice barely a whisper as if he couldn’t believe who he was looking at.

“It’s her!” Seeyela said before the woman under her arm could speak for herself. “It’s really her!”

“It’s… me,” Cal said a second later, nodding at her friends.

Then, they were running to surround the woman they’d thought lost.

The large crowd of people behind spread around the sudden group hug, their eyes taking in the valley and the signs of battle. For all the natural beauty the field had held, the fight had torn it up pretty badly. It didn’t help there was a playful Troblin running around using Crushing Shockwave every minute on cooldown.

Hiral, though he hadn’t gone up to hug Cal with the Growers – they weren’t exactly that close – walked up behind the others, his doubles at his side. Elezad came over with his wife, and Burs wasn’t far behind.

“Let’s give them a minute,” Grandmother said while she smiled happily at the reunion.

“She came through one of the Discs of Passage?” Hiral asked.

“The party sent to get her brought her here,” Grandmother said. “Thought it would be the best place for her, and they didn’t want to miss out on the raid zone.”

“Is she… okay?” Hiral asked, thinking back to the last time he’d seen the healer. And the mirror she’d held. There had been something… off… about all that. And a lot of worry on her friends’ parts. Nobody really talked about it, but they’d all wondered if they’d ever see Cal again. Not because they expected danger to find its way into the Asylum, but because they worried about what Cal would do to herself in her grief.

Losing Lonil and the others had been… hard on her. Very hard.

But, no. She made it out. She was here. She was fine.

At least, that was what Hiral thought until he looked at Grandmother’s face. The happiness at the reunion had faded, instead changing into one of concern.

“Grandmother?” Hiral said again quietly.

“She isn’t the same lovesick – loveblind – girl who went down to the surface,” Grandmother said. “She swears she’s fine, that she’s ready to fight again, but…”

“Do any parties need a healer?” Hiral asked.

“I’m not a healer anymore,” Caleon said as the group broke up and joined Hiral, Grandmother, and the others.

“Ah, I know what you mean,” Wule said. “Sometimes we’ve got to show those damage dealers how it’s done between heals.”

“No,” Cal said. “I don’t have any healing abilities anymore.”

“You’re joking, right?”

Caleon shook her head. “I lost them all when I got my advanced class at D-Rank.”

D-Rank? Advanced class?

At the claim, Hiral focused his senses and Cycling on the woman while View also activated. It was true, she was D-Rank. And, more than that, the way the solar energy moved around her, there was a very good chance she actually had an advanced class.

“You got an advanced class?” Seena asked. “That’s amazing!”

“But why did you lose all your healing abilities?” Wule asked, somehow looking confused, hurt, and offended at all the same time.

“I…” Cal started, but cut off at a small cough from Grandmother.

“While I’d love to let you catch up more,” the old Grower said, then turned her head to look at Al standing in front of the assembled crowd. “This could be a long conversation, and Seeyela mentioned we should listen to what this one has to say.”

“Right,” Seena said. “Right. Grandmother is right. We can talk once we all know why we’re here.”

“Cause we’ve had so much luck finding downtime,” Yanily whispered to Hiral, who couldn’t disagree with the spearman.

“Is this everybody?” Al asked from the front of the assembled crowd, his voice easily carrying like it came from the sky, the earth, and every blade of grass.

“It’s everybody here now,” Grandmother said, stepping ahead of the others by a single pace. “I hear you’ve got something to tell us about this place.”

“You are the leader of these people?” Al asked, his three eyes scanning along the groups as he took them in. Occasionally he nodded, as if finding something that pleased him.

“You could say I’m one of the leaders,” Grandmother clarified. “And the one you’re talking to now. Is that a problem?”

“Not at all,” Al said, giving a shallow bow. “I simply did not want to leave anybody out. With your permission, then, I shall begin my introduction to the Cradle of Tomorrow.”

“Please,” Grandmother said, a small thump of her cane sending out a wave of energy to silence the last whispers amongst the crowd. Everybody would listen to what the so-called guide had to say, or they’d be answering to the Grower Matron.

“Thank you,” Al said, taking a deep breath. “As you may have guessed, the Cradle of Tomorrow where you find yourselves now was created by none other than the esteemed Custodian of Tomorrow.” At the words, Al thrust his arms out to the side, as if in expectation of applause of cheers. None came. There was one awkward cough, but that could’ve been allergies.

“The who now?” a voice asked from deep in the crowd.

“The… the Custodian of Tomorrow!” Al said again, another weaker thrust of his arms. “You do know who the Progenitors are, don’t you?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Only some of us,” Hiral explained quickly. “We’re just now learning bits and pieces of their history, or how they’re connected to us. If you could share some of what you know…”

“I see,” Al said, rubbing his chin. “Very well. There is some I can tell you, though most you will need to learn on your own. Though, worry not, there should be answers to many of your questions within the Cradle. Now, then, where shall I start?”

“The beginning is usually the best place,” Yanily suggested.

“The beginning, as you put it, was far too long ago,” Al said, shaking his head. “No, what is important is the Progenitors are responsible for the birth of many of the races on this world, and all those present here. The humans – Growers, Makers, Bonders, and Builders. The Troblins. Squalians. And, the Undead. As well as many, many more. And, like there is diversity among their creations, so too is there amongst the creators.

“While the term Progenitor was adopted for them, they are not of a single species themselves. Instead, they are paragons. Some claim to be remnants from the universe that existed before our own. Others claim to be Primal concepts given form, or the pinnacle of evolution for another, existing race. I… am not qualified to say which is true. Perhaps all of them? Perhaps none.

“What matters, however, is they are each… a starting point. They are where legends begin. Legends themselves. They have birthed myths and stories, peoples and nations. Races.

“Their power. Their knowledge. They are simply beyond the realm of imagination in many ways. Some would call them Gods, and they wouldn’t be wrong. And this place was created by one of the dragons’ Progenitors, the Custodian of Tomorrow. She who took it upon herself to prepare the worlds for what was to come, no matter what that may be.

“She was the spark of ingenuity. The madness of creation. The stubbornness of tenacity. And the hammer that forged the future into her own image. No matter the cost.”

Al paused at that to let the crowd absorb some of what he’d said. There wasn’t anything particularly new in there for Hiral, and another voice from the group asked a question.

“Who else helped make dragons?” the young woman’s voice said, quickly followed by a sharper whisper. “What? I like dragons. I want to know more.”

“The Custodian of Tomorrow worked with Heaven’s Punishment and The Final Tide to birth the powerful dragons. Though,” Al said with a small shake of his head, “even those powerful creations were forced into slumber. Unable to evolve and weather the trials of the world.”

Slumber? The dragons aren’t… dead? And, why would they need to evolve?

“Which is a nice segue into this place,” Al continued. “While each of the Progenitors created races in their images – sometimes many of them – none were as devoted to it as the Custodian of Tomorrow. She understood the need to birth peoples capable of overcoming almost any trial. Those with the power to grow, evolve, and thrive. This place is where she decided to do that. The Cradle of Tomorrow.”

“The Custard of Tomorrow is from here then?” a young man’s voice asked, and all three of Al’s eyes widened at the butchering of Tomorrow’s name.

“She… she was not a pastry,” Al stuttered. “She was…!”

“From here?”

“No!” Al said, taking another deep breath. “None of the Progenitors are from this world. It is too… unusual. Perhaps, someday, one will be birthed here, but not yet.”

“If she isn’t from here…?” Seena started. “Why was she here at all? Why is the Mother of Flame still here? Or the Void-Venom Empress?”

There was some chatter among the crowd at the Grower rattling off the names, but another cane tap from Grandmother silenced it.

“There are details even I am not aware of,” Al said slowly. “But, each of the Progenitors somehow found their way to this world. I don’t know much more than that.”

“Why is this world unusual?” Hiral asked.

“Something else I don’t know, beyond hearing the Custodian of Tomorrow referring to it as such,” Al said. “The answers are likely within the Cradle, however, if you overcome the challenges and claim them for yourself.”

“Okay,” Hiral said slowly. “Then back to why this Cradle is here at all.”

“Thank you,” Al said. “As I was talking about, Tomorrow – as some here have taken to calling her – foresaw a future needing races that could survive. That could overcome the numerous challenges put before them. But, even in her wisdom, she didn’t know exactly what those races would need to survive.

“Would it be powerful physical strength? An indestructible body? Magic to shake the heavens, or creativity to invent a solution to any problem? What was the thing that would allow one race to endure where others would fail?

“There was only one way for Tomorrow to answer those questions – by trying them all. And so, she built the Cradle of Tomorrow, along with the first two of her created races. One side was physically powerful, the Wyverns. The other – Flayers – possessed weak bodies, but powerful minds. Here, she set them against each other and the natural challenges present.

“Which of the two would come out on top? The struggle would highlight their strengths and weaknesses. The opportunities for improvement and iteration. Even before these two original races finished their bloody war, Tomorrow introduced the Creepers, a spider-like race, inspired by the same Void-Venom Empress you’d mentioned.

“Suddenly it became a three-sided battle, with information and data flooding in. Like this, Tomorrow continued. Adding new races to the ongoing struggle, sometimes after one had died completely off – clearly too weak to survive – or when a stalemate had emerged. But, she’d learned direct confrontation wasn’t always the best measure.

“Some of the species placed within the Cradle only showed their true strength when given the chance to grow through other means. Through other challenges. A fight to the death between individuals wasn’t the only scale. So, she added space to build civilization. To band together. To earn rewards and gain stronger over generations, instead of within days of being born.

“Over months. Years. Centuries. Millennia. Tomorrow built this place. Modified it – and the trials within – to birth the perfect race.

“That is what the Cradle of Tomorrow is. That is what your opportunity is. Tomorrow may have left this place long ago, but the challenges – and rewards – she placed within this valley to create her ideal race still exists.

“And they’re here for the taking.”

“Just like that?” Yanily asked. “Since we beat you, we can just walk in and take them?”

Al shook his head, a mischievous smile spreading across his lips. “Tomorrow believed the only reward worth getting was the one earned. All of her trials have reactivated with the unsealing of this place. For you to gain those rewards I mentioned, you must prove yourself superior to anything she was able to create in this valley.

“To overcome that which came closest to perfection before she left.”

“Chimeras,” Hiral said, and the Triclops nodded.

“The ability to adapt proved to be one of the most potent,” Al said. “The Chimeras possess no natural shape of their own, but instead the impressive ability to take on – and over – the bodies of others. From there, they remove natural weaknesses, and replace them with their own strengths.”

“If Chimeras were so perfect,” Seeyela said. “Why don’t we see them everywhere?”

“Because they are powerful like a plague is,” Al said. “Give them an opponent, and they will crush it. Consume it. Become it. Ideally. On the other hand, they possess no society. No means for growing their numbers beyond infecting something that isn’t a Chimera. Left to their own devices, they will burn out, consuming even themselves.

“It was with them Tomorrow realized her mistake with this experiment. It is why she abandoned her experiments and sealed the Cradle, until this day.”

“And what, exactly, is it about this day that unsealed it?” Hiral asked.

“A very particular energy level in your world is rising again,” Al said, almost sadly. “One that may well mean the end of all of us. One that signals their return.”

“Whose return?” Grandmother asked.

“The Raze,” Al said. “If things don’t change – soon – they shall return and live up to their name, killing everything on this world.”