Chapter 78: Rest

News From Around The World

MEAR: The First Magi-Tech Assault Rifle Has Now Gone Into Production

Various Nations Introducing Xothican Integration Classes

Several Countries Considering A Conscription Program To Bolster Personal And UNDF Armies

FIFA, NFL To Allow Players With Levels Higher Than One

VVVVVV

Jux entered the human embassy. He was originally at the Guild to look for Tom and his team, but the Guild told him they left for the embassy. He was surprised at how busy the embassy was. There was close to two dozen people sitting in chairs in a waiting room. On the walls were large glass screens that displayed lands he was unfamiliar with and different human cities. He was not familiar with this kind of magic, but had to admit it interested him.

"Hello, sir, welcome to the human embassy," the receptionist greeted. "I'm Audrey, how can I help you?"

"Ah, yes," Jux muttered. "I'm Jux Oro. I was told that Tom's group is here."

"I'm afraid I cannot confirm nor deny any UNDF personnel that may or may not be in this embassy outside of Major Wayne."

"No, no. Look. I know him and his companions and I have critical information for him." Jux leaned forward and whispered, "I have information on an Elemental."

Audrey's eyes widened. "E-Excuse me a moment."

Audrey quickly got up from her chair and went through a door behind her. She picked up a phone on the wall and pressed the button that connected to Tom's room.

"Hello," Tom answered.

"Oh, thank goodness I caught you," she said. "We have an orc man up front by the name of Jux Oro who said he knew you. He said he had critical information for you. Do you know him?"

"I do. Send him to our room. We're just putting together our newest team member's things."

Audrey hung up the phone and went back to the front desk where Jux still stood.

"Alright, I checked and you're good. Please follow me."

Jux followed behind Audrey towards the hallway. As he walked, he scanned the area to look at the building's architecture. He had travelled far in his life and he had never seen architecture like this building. None had him scratching his head more than the lights that shone down from the ceilings or the screens that showed sights beyond the building.

"This is their room," Audrey said to him as she gestured towards a door.

"Thank you."

Jux entered the room and stopped in place when he saw the archon demon. He looked over to Tom and the girls and, with a look of confusion, pointed towards her.

"Uh..."

"This is Lucia Vena," Tom quickly introduced her. "She's our newest team member. An Elemental."

Jux shrugged and relaxed his posture. "Glad you were able to find an Elemental this soon. I also heard you had a successful quest."

"We did," Reia said. "Even with Hastur's interference with a red obelisk."

"A red obelisk?! I haven't seen one of those since the war."

"Well, they're back in fashion," Vivian said. "We took care of it, though."

"So why are you here, Master Oro?" Reia asked.

Jux quickly pressed his hand against the door behind himself to make sure it was properly closed.

"Is it safe to speak here?" Jux asked.

"The walls have special runes carved inside that makes the room soundproof. A gift from some Icelandic elves."

"Alright. I believe... I know the location of two Elementals."

Tom excitedly stepped forward. "Really? Who? Where?"

"Tom..." Sylmae said to him while grabbing his shoulder to calm him down.

"R-Right, sorry," he apologized.

"It was when you mentioned the Unknown title as a sign of being an Elemental. I only realized just recently that my daughter and her friend both said that they had an Unknown title when they were kids. I never saw it so I assumed they lied about it."

"Usha's an Elemental?" Reia said in disbelief.

"It... seems so."

"You don't seem happy," Tala commented.

"Should I? As you explained to me, an Elemental's duty to to destroy Hastur. I'm not overly enthusiastic over my daughter and her friend joining you on that quest. But... Knowing my stubborn daughter, if I didn't mention this, she would hold a grudge against me for the rest of my life."

"I understand your concerns, and I wish I could promise you that they'll never get hurt, but I can't," Tom said to him. "All I can promise is that I'll do everything in my power to protect them."

"Hmm. At least you're honest." Jux looked to Reia. "While you can be an idiot at times, it seems you found yourself a good man."

"Thank you, Master Oro," Reia replied. A split second later she realized the prior comment. "Hey!"

"My daughter, Usha, is a Guardian at the Temple of Kara. Her friend, Suvie Vulez, is a Spirit Medium there. The two work together to deal with spiritual enemies and exorcisms on behalf of the temple."

"That sounds extremely dangerous," Tala said.

"Believe me, I thought the same, but Suvie... She's special. Suvie was born with an especially strong connection to the spirit realm. I was against them going into the profession, but they went anyway. That is where you'll find them."

Tom pulled out his phone and pressed a few buttons on its screen. He pressed the phone to his ear.

"Commander?" He paused as Steele spoke back. "Yes, we have spoke with her, sir. She was an Elemental and she is joining our team. ...Yes, sir. Look, we may have discovered the location of two other Elementals. We believe that they are currently at the Temple of Kara in the Sogen continent. So... I need to do the comparison, but I would guess it would be somewhere between Brazil and Bolivia. Double check the map-overlays to make sure. I'll need either photos or videos of the location to teleport there so we'll need to send some people there. Yeah? Right. Also, we need this mission to be incognito. Maybe call it a cultural outreach mission. That should keep away prying eyes. Have to be extra cautious. We found Hastur spying on us using a small flying creature known as a spekh. They are capable of turning into portals that Hastur uses to launch red obelisks. Yes, the same ones used during the last global war on Xoth. We should think about increasing drone coverage to counter these things. Uh, huh. Alright. Thank you, sir. I'll send a report later. Good bye."

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Tom placed his phone back in his Inventory.

"Everything's all set," Tom declared. "We'll have some UNDF personnel that will travel to the temple and give me the information needed to teleport there. It will be incognito so Hastur and his spies shouldn't care about the trip."

"I appreciate the amount of seriousness and caution you are putting towards this," Jux said.

"Current times demand it. Don't worry. We'll find your daughter and her friend and ensure they are ready for the coming fight. I'll let you know as soon as we know of Usha's and Suvie's status."

"Thank you." Jux opened the door to the room. He paused before exiting. "Please watch over them, Everett."

Tom smiled and nodded to him. "Will do. Okay, everyone, we're teleporting."

"I've been through portals before," Lucia said. "Is this Fast Travel any different?"

"Well, a portal is like walking through a door from one room to another," Sylmae explained. "Fast Travel is like turning the lights off then on and the room changes in that time."

"You'll see," Reia said.

"You ready, Lucia?" Tom asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Alright."

A second later they were on their private island. The sun was higher in the sky. The air was hot and humid, but the breeze that swept the island helped make it tolerable.

"Welcome to our own little slice of paradise," Vivian announced.

"Wow..." Lucia muttered. She looked upon the large jungled island with amazement.

"I originally found this island by chance while looking through my computer's maps application," Tom explained. "It's north of a location known to humans as Easter Island. At first, this was just a small strip of land. Over time, Vivian and Amber used their abilities to increase its size."

"It is truly beautiful."

"Ah, shit," Tom muttered as he bumped his forehead with his palm. "I need to get you personal items. Bed, toiletries, some clothes. I also need some ingredients for the barbeque tonight. I'll head out and be back in a couple of hours. You can relax for now, Lucia. Hey, Syl."

"Yeah," Sylmae yelled back. She had switched out of her armour uniform back into her civilian clothes. Syl kicked off her shoes as she walked towards the beach.

"Keep an eye on everyone," he said half-joking.

A smirk came across Sylmae's lips and she waved back without looking over her shoulder.

"Reia, could you show Lucia around the place?"

"Sure thing."

"Be back soon." Tom vanished from sight.

Reia walked over to Lucia and grabbed her hand. Amber walked towards the forest. Plants and flowers grew around her feet as she walked.

"Come on, Lucia, I'll show you your new home." Reia quickly dragged Lucia away towards the house.

At the beach, Vivian approached Sylmae. Vivian didn't get a chance to say anything before Sylmae hissed, "What was with that joke? You don't think it would be inappropriate to make that joke to a person who was nearly sexually assaulted the night before?"

"Considering I was also nearly sexually assaulted?" Vivian reminded. "I find humour a really good coping mechanism."

Sylmae found herself unable to respond. She had never seen Vivian act so serious in her life.

"Believe me, I understand what Lucia is going through. I worked my ass off to rise through the ranks of the Bolaweth army only to get betrayed by someone of higher rank. Just like she was betrayed."

"Vi, I'm sorry..."

Vivian sighed. "It's fine. I guess it was inappropriate. I can lose control of my mouth sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

Vivian laughed. "Yeah, yeah. I don't think Lucia was bothered by me. She was far too focused on Tom to hear what I said."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Syl!" Vivian scoffed as she playfully slapped Syl's back. "You have the highest Perception out of any of us and you didn't see? Lucia was completely focused on Tom. One of the biggest badasses on Xoth and she acted like a school girl around him."

"Really? But why? She only just met him."

"In person, yes. But remember that she spent the last month listening to tales of his exploits. Think about it. She spent years on a lonely mission to free slaves and stick it to her country's noble class and Hastur's minions. Now she learns of a guy on the same kind of mission, more or less. For the first time in her life since her friend died, she wasn't alone."

Sylmae's eyes widened at Vivian's explanation. It made complete sense to her and she was kicking herself for not seeing it.

"Also, her parents hated him, so that just added to it." Vivian brought a fist to her mouth as she contemplated a new thought. "You know, after her, our family may grow further."

"You think?"

"Even without the pragmatic view of 'his Lover skill is needed to boost our skills further', he just has that good-natured charm."

Sylmae chuckled in her throat. "You might be right. You know, when I was in the orphanages, I always wished for a big family."

"Is that right?" Vivian said with a tilted head. "It seems that wish may come true."

VVVVVV

At the house, Reia was giving a tour to Lucia of her new home. The house was a large one-story building with one-meter-square black glass tiles covering its roof. Two two-story wind turbines stood about a hundred meters away.

"We had another house back in Canada, but it was blown up in an attack by a human group known as Umbra," Reia said. "Tom had this house built in a possibility that we might have to bug out. Since we fully moved to this house, we had some additional space added to it along with more utilities and entertainment. The only thing that sucks is we don't have internet."

"What's internet?"

"It's human technology that allows them to share information with anyone or from anywhere in the world so long as you are connected to its network. More or less."

"Like communication orbs?"

Reia crocked her head. "Not really... Communication orbs connect minds to allow the two people to talk. Imagine a window that allows you to read books or see present or some past events that occur elsewhere. Now image that the books and seeable events are stored in multiple places that you can access from anywhere in the world. Makes a little more sense?"

"A little. If humans can share information that easily, that kind of ability would make them extremely power."

"Oh, yeah. Some humans would go as far to say it is the greatest invention since man-made fire."

"What do you use it for?" Lucia asked.

"Oh, I mostly use it to look at cats and delve into weird human humour."

"Ha!"

"I need to show you. Human internet humour is so weird. Anyway... We have several spare rooms built in case of new team members or guests. You can have your pick, but all of them have a nice large window with a lovely view of the island or beach."

The two entered the house. Lucia's eyes bounced all over the alien room. The walls were sky blue and the floors were covered in dark brown hardwood. The furniture was very simple with classic light brown wood chairs at a metal table with a glass top. The room was very simple in its decor, but came across as inviting unlike the opulent halls of her family home.

"This place is lovely," Lucia said.

"Really?" Reia said in surprise. "I would have thought that the royal palace be very nice."

"Lavish, yes. Nice, no. The decoration of the interior was meant to espouse superiority of the family over any noble or commoner. Tons of gold, mythril, paintings, and jewels. Nothing but an eyesore. This is nice. I really like this."

"I'm glad!" Reia gestured to several doors. "You can pick any of these rooms. They are all empty, but you'll get a chance to personalize it once you have settled down."

"Have you all done so?"

"We have a couple of lounge rooms that we decorated, but we usually sleep in Tom's room."

"Oh, so you all are... together?"

"Yup," Reia frankly answered. "We've been with him for about a year. It has been wonderful. Do you mind?"

"Oh, no! Of course not! Just curious... How's that... going for you?"

"Nothing to complain about. We're happy, he's happy. It's great."

"Sounds nice."

Noticing that Lucia was really curious about their relations, Reia had a hunch about Lucia's true intentions and decided to do a little experiment. "Yeah, it really is. He just has a really big heart. Just gives us a lot of love. A lot of times, the five of us isn't enough for him. But what can we do?"

Reia's eyes quickly glanced at Lucia who had a look of excitement come across her face.

'Very interesting...' Reia thought to herself. 'I'm going to have to consult with Vi.'

"Oh, well," Reia nonchalantly said with a shrug. "So Tom is probably going to be away for a couple of hours. So I'll just show you some of the things we do in our off time." Reia gestured towards the other side of the room where a dark brown couch sat in front of a tv, speakers and shelves that housed blu-rays and game systems. "When we're not swimming or napping, we have movies and video games. As for what is a movie, it's like a play that you can replay from a recording. Like a recording orb."

"Oh, that's interesting!" Lucia was really excited over seeing what human plays are like.

"We originally had a streaming service, but without the internet, we now use blu-ray discs for all of our movies. I'll show you what video games are later. I don't want to blow your mind too soon."

"What kind of plays are available?" Lucia walked over to one of the shelves that was stuffed with dozens of blue cases.

"There are different genres. I like to watch fantasy from time to time for a laugh. Elves were considered mythical to humans before the merger, so seeing humans dress as elves and act almost like gods is hilarious. There's drama, comedy, romance, thrillers, and action. Oh, do I love action."

Lucia pulled out one of the videos and saw the cover art of an actor dressed in a black shirt with black glasses while he held an odd instrument in his right hand.

"Stallone. Cobra." Lucia flipped the case over and saw a story synopsis. She quickly read it over and her eyes widened. "I want to watch this!"