“Bwahahah!”

Alex pouted at Sam, her rolled eyes and done look only made him laugh even more, tears threatened to stream down his cheeks as he slapped his knee and gasped for air as his stomach muscles clenched in horrible mirth.

“It really isn’t that funny.” She said for the third time, sitting up she harrumphed, “I get it, my fault for sharing.”

Even at that Sam struggled to pull himself together, he wiped the grin off his face but his lips quivered as he apologized, “I’m sorry, it’s just…ha..I mean, you’re a thousand years descended from a Regalia Wielder of the crusader periods.”

“Still not funny.”

Sam huffed and sipped his sprite, he knew better than to explain why he was laughing, especially since it was technically at her expense, “Okay, okay, I’m really sorry this time. No funny jabs, no chuckles.”

Alex rolled her eyes, crossed her legs and set her chair to face away from him, a veritable cold shoulder. He sighed, “Have any of the DSF agents with similar descent become Regalia Wielders?”

She was silent for a moment and Sam began to think she was actually going to ignore him the entire fourteen-hour flight, when she shrugged, “Who knows. Maybe, maybe not.” After a second she sighed and shook her head, “Actually, no, none of us have received the boon of Regalia, but each of us do have stronger affinities with monster core products. The effects kick in faster, last longer and we do attract the attention of monsters more than the average human. So, I don’t know, I just felt special okay?”

With her arms folded against her chest and her cheek dug and turned away into her headrest Sam felt a ton shittier for laughing in her face when she claimed to be a Princess due to a millennia long relation to a long dead and forgotten Regalia Wielder.

Guilt twisted in Sam's stomach as he realized his laughter had wounded her. He hadn't meant to belittle her feelings. Searching for the right words, he finally said… “You are special. I mean, how many people can say they fight Belua for a living? Or that they’re technically a super solider? Or that they save lives just by existing?”

Those seemed like the right words because Alex turned a level gaze at him, her eyes fogged up in thought, “…Thanks I guess. Means something coming from an actual Regalia Wielder.”

Sam smiled and nodded, petting Nyx who was fast asleep now that she was full of snacks. He was starting to get the gist of the Doom Suppression Force. They existed for this particular moment in time, when Towers erupted from the earth, spat out monsters and changed landscapes. But in their long history this moment had only happened technically twice but really only once.

Humans weren’t long lived enough to remember the terrors of the past in detail, especially when that past was as mystical, random and over a thousand years ago. The DSF that was established during the crusader days, that fought against the Doom Towers of that age did anticipated their return and kept track of the lineage of the heroes that saved the world.

Watching the earth roll underneath them from his window, Sam found it difficult to swallow that this world had already faced doom and survived, that it had been saved by— according to Alex— four champions of which she was descended of one.

It was a shame the DSF didn’t prepare for the likelihood that the next Regalia Wielders would be chosen so arbitrarily. As far as Alex had told him, he wasn’t related to any of the four champions nor was he even from the same part of the world as any of them.

“So…are all DSF agent’s descendants? Were you guys like…groomed into the organization right from birth or something?” Sam found himself asking.

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Alex laughed, “No, that’s a silly thought. Would be very…weird if that was how it worked but thankfully, most of us were recruited about a year prior to the eruptions, chosen for how closely we were related.”

“A year prior to the eruptions?” Sam balked, sitting up straight. The tower eruptions, a worldwide tragedy and supernatural phenomenon that stole over a billion lives as thirteen of the Doom Towers tore the planet open with earthquakes, tsunamis and other natural disasters just so they could hang over the world like a sword of Damocles, one that inevitable fell back down, reaping almost as many lives as they did coming up.

“Why didn’t they warn the world if they knew this was going to happen?”

Alex rolled her eyes at him, “What makes you think they didn’t? I think the higher ups did their best, even I didn’t know what to make of their recruitment when they came knocking. There was no record of them anywhere online, in the libraries, nothing. I thought they were organ harvesters for a good month before General Sir convinced me otherwise.

“Frankly, it could have been worse, the fall out…well, the continued fall out could have been worse if the DSF only knew about the Doom Towers after they’d erupted. Even now that they’ve fallen, how do you think the Doom Tower’s monsters have killed so little people?”

It did seem the world had the DSF to thank for the sense of normalcy still left. Heck before Sam learned about all this he’d thought only a month of chaos had passed whereas…

“What are Tower Surges?” Sam suddenly asked after a moment of mulling. Alex raised a brow as he turned his body to face her and he stuttered, “I…I think I get the gist from the name alone but…has this been happening for long? I mean, throughout this month the Tower’s returned to earth anyway.”

Alex shook her head, “No, well, it’s happened once before, all twelve towers experienced a surge the moment they landed. According the General Sir’s scripture though, this would be the first true Tower Surge since they fell and it’s not going to be as simple to combat as the introductory one.”

I know they’re a hidden organization but to suppress so much of the media. Sam hadn’t seen anything like a Belua before the fateful day he came across the Two-tailed jaguar but if what she was saying was true then there should at least be a public community aware that the Towers are harbingers of monstrous destruction.

Still, Sam listened intently as she bit on her lip and pinched her fingers, he could tell from those alone she wasn’t certain if she should divulge the next bit of information to him— he’d asked an important question.

“Tell me, I’m in for the long haul anyway.” Sam said, hoping to loosen her lips.

She eyed him doubtfully, blinked her eyes close for a long second before inhaling deeply, “Alright, I’ll tell you but first, why are you in for the long haul? It wasn’t so long ago you were begging to be set free. As inspiring as I am I’m surprised it didn’t take you more to get with the program. In truth, the reason I came so early to get you is because we feared you’d already begun to pack your things to leave, run away. So tell me Sam, why are you suddenly so committed?”

He snickered at that and gave a shrug, “I suppose patriotism is out of the question?” She shook her head, unimpressed. Sam sighed and pet Nyx curled up asleep in the seat next to him. She purred and shrunk from his disturbance. Sam thought back to the moment he felt the first spark of resolve to fight back and sure enough just recalling the moment made him anxious for the future, in a good way.

“I used to think doing the bare minimum was enough,” Sam said, gazing out the window at the clouds below. “Like there was no point in breaking my back to prolong a temporary existence.”

“But when I faced the Belua, the Jaguar and those fire sprites, I suddenly had several reasons. There were so many things I wanted to experience and suddenly the mere chance to do so was threatened.” His eyes steeled as he found his answer, more certain of it than he’s been of many things in the past month, “I’m committed because I’m done with half-measures and laid back work. I want to carve out the future I’ve always idly fantasized about but never chased. I want to live.”

There was more to the equation that made him ready to risk his life fighting monsters, specifically what the Regalia seems to have revealed to him alone, but for now, Alex only needed to be certain of his resolve of which he had aplenty.

Alex's gaze fixed on him, her usual playful smirk absent. She didn't blink as he spoke, her intense eyes searching his for sincerity. “The scriptures told us of the Tower Surges, their purpose is simple, to find and kill any Regalia Wielder not already within them, where we’re going there likely are one or two Wielders like you and just like you, they’ll be targeted above all else. I hope you’re ready, you’re going to help us recruit them.”

Sam already expected as much but he didn’t think for a minute there would be others like him at Manila. But I guess it makes sense, there are likely Wielders wherever there’s a Tower. I wonder if they’ll be any fun.