It had been three weeks since Scythe and her friends managed to return to Earth. Those three weeks were a confusing mess as they tried to fit into this old world with middling success. They had arrived near Cluster’s home in Switzerland.
Honestly, she couldn’t care any less about the present circumstances. She was just glad that she was finally out of the hellhole that was Amnellium Prime. In all her years as a human she hadn’t come across a single piece of media that described a faction even close to how evil they were.
Amnellium as a faction controlled Amnellium Prime, a planet that was more than eighty percent city. Only the core was still natural planet, hidden beneath thirty-seven thousand floors of artificial construction. It was supposedly powered by nuclear fusion reactors that were first constructed thousands of years ago, at the very bottom of the city. At least that was what the rest of the population was led to believe. The lowest thirty something thousand floors were ruins, old and forgotten. Comparably few people lived down there and those were usually the kinds of people that you didn’t want to associate with. It was part of the reason why Scythe and her friends had stayed so long down there, it had been a much simpler time…
The government of Amnellium lived in a separate city complex near the north pole of the giant planet. It was the size of Great Britain and was so lavish it hurt to look at. Everything could be found there, while the rest of the world was riddled with poverty and illness. Since they didn’t have any magic, they often studied them if they found them on other worlds. Space Travel was pretty normal, and they often travelled through their home galaxy, sometimes stumbling upon worlds with magicals in them.
Those were kidnapped, enslaved, brought home, and experimented on. The government disregarded all laws and regulations when it came to the treatment of slaves, something which Scythe, and her friends took great insult to.
Working from the shadows they were a small rebellious force that had been a headache for Amnellium ever since they managed to escape their imprisonment. They had fought and bled, murdered and stolen to bring down the government in as thorough a way as possible.
Scythe was rather proud of the chaos she had sown all over their so loved rich city, utterly blowing it to pieces and killing all those living there. She didn’t have qualms of killing the innocent who lived there. In her eyes they were just as much at fault as the rest of them.
Sadly, the government had reacted by bombarding the entire planet with nuclear weapons, transforming it into a giant wasteland. From the twenty-seven billion people originally living on Amnellium Prime less than three billion were still alive, picking up the pieces of the ruined planet, trying to survive the radiation and starvation.
Not that Scythe or any of her friends cared. In their eyes the government brought this upon themselves, and while it was sad to lose so many people who weren’t at fault, it was the price that needed to be paid to save the myriad of star systems Amnellium had conquered over the centuries.
She didn’t have any illusions that this wouldn’t repeat itself, nor did she think that she had saved the surviving populace. She was a murderer and a war criminal. But she didn’t care, she was long since beyond caring. Ever since they had the audacity to more or less render Cluster infertile with their sick and disgusting experiments nothing else mattered than the utter destruction of all that Amnellium stood for.
They had taken their emblem for themselves, as a sick and twisted spoils of war. What once represented the military might of a totalitarian government now represented Scythe determination to eradicate all those that stood against her.
Yet that attitude hadn’t helped her once they returned to earth. It seemed that there was a magical society that was hidden away, but since nobody in their group of five had any idea about those things they had ended up getting in trouble with this Council of theirs that policed this magical society.
And that ended with the five of them in cells. Of course, they could just break out, this was laughable compared to the security they had to endure on Amnellium. But Silk had convinced them not to act rashly and see where this was going. They had already created quite the public outrage and it would be best for them to remain in hiding for now.
Scythe sighed, shifting on her cot. They all had their own prison cells, with only a toilet, a cot, and a sink. Hers was directly opposite of Silks Cell, with Cluster to her right and Grunt to her left. Opposite of Grunt was his brother Bullseye.
Scythe was just about to start another game of „I spy“ when the door to the cell block opened and a person walked in. He was wearing a police uniform and was obviously not human. If Scythe’s fantasy races were still up to date, he looked like an Orc or something similar.
Behind him was another person, a woman who wore an immaculate suit that fit her so well Scythe wouldn’t be surprised she was born with it. She snorted at the thought.
The woman was elven and carried herself with dignity. She had long blonde hair and eyes of such an intense amber it looked like they glowed. Her skin was pristine and with just the barest hint of tan on it.
„Rin Savart?“, the woman asked into the group. It appears she didn’t know who was who, despite Scythe and her friends telling them the truth when they were caught. Silk had stressed that it was better to be truthful rather than trying to hide anything from them.
Scythe had agreed eagerly, ever since she was reborn she had an aversion to lying and she knew the others felt similarly.
„Here“, she told the woman with a smirk, „Came to finally behead us? Well, get in line.“
Truth be told she didn’t fear for their future. They had the strength, the determination, and the skills to get out and do whatever they wanted. But Grunt, as blunt as he was, was right that it was best to stay put and listen to Silk.
„I fear we don’t have the tools necessary for that“, the elven woman said unphased and without any expression on her face, „I have come to collect you for an interview. There are inconsistencies in what you have told us.“
Scythe wasn’t an expert on reading people, but ever since she had been reborn it was easy in reading others surface thoughts and emotions, just another boon of her new race she guessed. The others have reported similar feelings and they had devised a way to talk to each other silently with these skills.
„Oh?“, Scythe asked, genuinely surprised. They had told them the truth, all of it, including the war crimes they committed. She was honestly surprised they hadn’t been executed yet. Or at least that they didn’t try executing them yet, since she was pretty sure they couldn’t.
Silk had once gotten shot by a railgun straight into her head. She was injured for two days, but other than that she had been fine. Dragons truly were durable.
„We have reason to believe that you lied to us about your identity as we have another person claiming to be you in Germany“, the elven woman said simply, before unlocking the gates to their cells and motioning them outside.
Scythe frowned as she got up and walked out, „What the shit? I AM Rin Savart, the one and only“, she protested, crossing her arms in annoyance, „I dunno who it is that told you they are me, but they are obviously lying“, she said with a scowl.
„Well, we do not believe them much more than we do you, however it is still a matter to be investigated. Therefore you will talk to the head investigator under a truth spell“, the woman said dismissively before she started to walk towards the already familiar room.
To an outsider the lack of security might seem like laziness, but the truth was that they simply had nothing that could be even remotely dangerous to the five dragons. That had been blatantly clear after they were only able to capture the five of them after they surrendered and let themselves be captured.
That and Scythe would bet her fangs that they had some kind of secret magic weapon hidden away somewhere. Not that she was about to disobey the woman. So, they followed her and ended up in the familiar room which only had one table and seven chairs. One was occupied by an older man in his fifties, the head investigator they had talked to a few times already.
Next to his stood another chair, in which the woman seated herself. Opposite them were the five chairs for Scythe and her friends.
It was unusual for them to invite all five of them into the room at once, normally they only talked to each one alone. It seemed something was definitely up. Something important enough for them to organize a group meeting.
„Good day“, the Head Investigator said. He had never disclosed his name and Scythe was sure he wouldn’t even if asked, not that she much cared for the man’s name. He was a man she respected, driven, professional, and didn’t get hung up on bullshit. Her friends and her had started calling him Albert.
„G’Day Albert, how are you doing? Quite the fancy meeting we have here it seems, wouldn’t think you’d invite all of us in“, Scythe said, plopping herself down on her chair and put her feet up on the desk.
Albert wasn’t fazed at all by her calling him that, or her behavior. While the five could be obnoxious, they were self-aware enough to realize that, they had not stirred up any trouble since they arrived in the police facility.
That had earned them his begrudging respect, at least respect enough to tolerate their unusual behavior. Scythe was pretty sure that their story figured quite prominently into that as well.
„Today is a day with many abnormalities and unusual procedures. Let me get straight to the point. In a few minutes one of our magicians will arrive and cast a Truth spell on each of you. Then we will ask you again for your identity. We have reason to believe you are lying“, he said in his usual calm tone, his face betraying no emotions or feelings towards the five of them. It was useless of course, they knew exactly what he felt and thought and Scythe had to admit she was surprised that he was so fond of them. Or maybe fond was the wrong word, but he had at least good thoughts about them.
„Sure Sure, although I doubt you can get Cluster to change her mind“, Scythe said with a chuckle.
„Damn betcha“, Cluster said, crossing her arms and leaning against a wall, while the rest seated themselves.
Cluster had always chosen not to disclose her former name or family situation, she had only very begrudgingly even told them where she was from. Scythe didn’t care, nor did the rest for that matter. They knew they could rely on her no matter the situation.
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„While it is not helpful to our case, you of course have the right to remain silent“, Albert simply said, before turning to Scythe, „Off the record, I do not see what you could get out of lying to us about such matters, considering your… history and the fact you didn’t even know that more than the five of you have vanished. However, we have had cases where people lied for the simple reason of wanting to lie, especially in the magical community as there are certain demi-races with eccentric behaviors, so we can’t trust you out of hand.“
Scythe shrugged, „I don’t really care, old man. I know who I am and where I came from. Its rather confusing that this proposed Rin you were talking about comes from Germany, since I’m from there too, but in the end, it doesn’t matter to me. I mean, maybe they’re just some copycat looking for fame or something.“
Albert nodded, „That was our believe at first. However, what made this an unreasonable proposition was that they too claimed to be from another world. And to be a dragon.“
That got the attention of everyone on their side of the table. If that was true it was too much of a coincidence. Actually, the chances of it being a coincidence would be near zero.
„Okay Albert, I need a whole lot more context to THAT statement. Bitch be trying to claim they’re me and from another world no less. I know it’s possible, duh, but hell, that should be pretty close to impossible. They had to know where we were, and that we came back. I know we fucked up big time when we arrived but I thought your council or whatever had that well in hand“, Scythe started to ramble down before the woman raised her hand in a gesture for her to be silent.
Albert nodded, „Yes, we do not believe they know about this incident. We believe they had been present there for three weeks now and they contacted the Council there a little over two weeks ago, merely a day after we had to incarcerate you. It only just came to our attention since a contact from the NRW Council had inquired about you. We have a lot of inquiries in our queue, so it took some time to reach the upper echelons of the Council.“
Just as he said that the door opened and the Orc from before lead another man in. He looked as boring as a human could be, and by the time Scythe had turned away from him she had already forgotten his face.
„Ah, wonderful. Shall we start with the questioning then?“, Albert asked.
The five nodded. The newcomer started chanting something, which was so overdone that Scythe couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes. Humans and their need to chant.
Half a minute later the five could feel magic washing over them. It was uncomfortable, like it was trying to infiltrate their bodies, but they suffered through it. It was nothing compared to what they had endured on Amnellium.
„Let’s start with you then, since you are the one in question“, Albert said, looking at Scythe, „Are you Rin Savart, born in Essen, Germany, on the twenty first of July 2004?“
Scythe nodded, „Yep, in the flesh. Although I don’t really use that name anymore, it’s been my name for fifteen short years.“
It felt weird, like she felt compelled to speak the truth, which is why she added the last part not really wanting to. She frowned, not liking how this felt at all.
Albert nodded and the woman noted something down. A moment later he turned to Silk and asked in a similar fashion. She too answered in the positive, and the same went for Grunt and Bullseye. Cluster, predictably, remained stubbornly quiet.
None of them knew why Cluster was so hellbent not to disclose her name, the one time Scythe had asked Cluster simply told her that she didn’t want to talk about it. For Scythe that was reason enough not to pry any further.
After they had all answered, or in Clusters case remained silent for a few seconds, Albert nodded again. „It does appear that you are telling the truth, since none of you choked on your words“, he said with a long look at each of them.
„Well, far be it for me to say I told you so, buuuuut“, Scythe shrugged, „I did tell you. What I’m more interested in is who this other person is and where the hell they come from telling you lot they’re me.“
„Why don’t we go and ask them?“, Cluster asked with a shrug. For her it was trivially easy, Astral Dragons were incredible with spatial magic. Cluster often used it mid combat to teleport her rockets straight into the enemies face. It was a gruesome but effective method of fighting.
„At present we cannot allow you to leave the city“, the elven woman said, „However we will inquire about this ourselves. Should we find something out we will inform you, should such be required.“
„Oh no, you fucking don’t. Don’t ‚should such be required‘ me, bitch. I have some idiot trying to pass as my sorry ass, you better fucking tell me if you find something out!“, Scythe snapped at the woman, getting up and slamming her hands on the table. She knew she had a presence if she wanted and she liked that feeling, focusing her presence squarely on the woman, who paled immediately.
„Y-Yes, o-of c-course“, the woman stumbled, leaning back and away from Scythe in panic.
Scythe held the moment a little longer, before relinquishing her presence and standing up straight, „Good. If I hear you kept something from me regarding that you are fucking dead“, she said, and she meant it. She wasn’t about to mince words, nor had she ever backed down from anything.
She looked at Albert, „Anything else you need from us?“, she asked, still mildly irritated at the audacity of some people. In that regard it seemed elves were worse than humans, which were already pretentious enough.
Albert never let anything show on his face, but for the five draconics it had been obvious when the fear started pouring out of him. Scythe had to commend him for having such a poker face. „Unless you want to add anything to this conversation we don’t. In fact, we have no longer any reason to keep you holed up in a cell. While we cannot allow you to leave the city at the moment you are free to leave. We will be tracking you, of course, and should you do something else that could endanger the safety of the Paranormal world we will step in. For the moment we have organized a place for you to stay in the Paranormal part of town, that way you don’t have to fret too much. I have a feeling, considering your behavior so far, you don’t do well with hiding.“
The five of them all snorted in unison. „Aye mate, I’m about as subtle as a live bomb“, Scythe said with a wicked smirk, before turning to her friends.
„Anything you lot need to know before we piss off?“, she asked in Amnellal, the language of Amnellium. It was surprisingly similar to english in its grammar, although the words would mean nothing to the two people present.
„Nothing here, boss“, Grunt said and Bullseye just nodded in his brothers direction.
„Should have everything covered“, Silk shrugged and leaned back in her chair, her hands interlocked behind her head.
„Well, yes actually. Cell phones, an Internet connection, maybe some money. I doubt they’d like if we start paying them with non-existing money, as funny as that thought would be“, Cluster said and got up, stretching herself which greatly accentuated her beautiful frame. Scythe openly admired her girlfriend as she did so.
„Good point“, she said and turned to Albert, switching back to english, „Alright Albert. But before we move out, there are some things we probably need, like money for example. We can just magic up some money, but I’m not sure you’ll like that, eh?“, she asked him with a smirk, arms crossed in front of her.
„We have a small amount prepared in your new residence. While you are technically free to move around, you are still in Council protection unless stated otherwise by the Overseers. Therefore, we are as of this moment responsible for you. That being said, that also means that we will take the fallout for any misconduct you decide to get into. I do not think I need to say it aloud, but should that happen we will make our displeasure clear“, he explained, getting up as well.
Scythe waved it away, „Yeah yeah, we will be good little kittens. Anyways, where’s that place you got for us? Cluster over there can just magic us over so you don’t need to concern yourself with a driver or some other shit“, she said, then held up a hand as the woman began to speak, „And I know we aren’t supposed to simply appear in the middle of the street. Give me some credit woman, I might be a little rough but I do have some brain matter between the horns.“
Albert pulled out his phone and opened Google Maps, showing them the address, and started to explain how to get there.
„Got it“, Cluster said after seeing the address, „I know my way around. Anything else?“
The woman cleared her throat, „Only to not be too open about what you are. The area of residence we picked out for you is in a Paranormal district, therefore all those who are present do know about the magical world so you do not need concern yourself too much when staying there. However the moment you step out you are to act as normal humans“, she said and stood up with such a grace that Scythe had to roll her eyes at the blatant attempt at looking better than she was. Out of the corner of her eyes she could do Silk and Grunt do the same.
„We should have your new Identification done within the next week. Should nothing else prevent you from doing so, that will be the time where you are allowed to leave the country“, she finished before turning to leave, not even giving them a farewell.
Not that Scythe expected one, she seemed to be the kind of woman with her head firmly up her own asshole. And those she could stand the least.
„She’s… a character“, Silk muttered in Amnellal, clear displeasure in her voice, a sentiment the rest of the group shared immediately.
Cluster turned to Albert, „Any runes or spells layered over that part of town I need to be aware off? If we wanna go for a flight or have to teleport somewhere I don’t wanna rip open all your spells ‘couse I’m brute forcing it.“
He nodded, „We have an array of spells layered over the residence to enable those with more animalistic or fantastical appearances to move around freely and without the need of a mask. Your masks will be in the residence as well, you are required to wear them whenever you leave the district. It is a simple glamour spell that renders you looking entirely human while still retaining your features.“
With that he bid them farewell, after they all left the room. The Orc policeman brought them to the waiting room. Or tried to at least, half way there Cluster teleported them away since none of them had the patience to follow the man through half the building.
They arrived in front of an unassuming building with three stories. It wasn’t unpleasant to look at, but it was nothing to write home about either. The people around, a mixed group of all the different demi-races, collectively jumped at their sudden appearance.
Unlike most fiction Clusters magic had no visual component to it. They literally simply popped into existence from the perspective of the others, with a small wave of mana accompanying the transfer. Scythe knew her girlfriend could be a lot more subtle, but today it seemed she wasn’t in the mood. And to be honest, she wasn’t either.
She looked around, pointedly meeting the eyes of everyone who looked at them. Shifting into her Hybrid form she let her presence take hold.
During their time on Amnellium they had been experimented on a lot. Once reborn as different kinds of dragons, these days they were more machine than dragon. It still amazed Scythe how the researchers got their true form to remain mechanical.
Scythe only had one biological wing, the other was made purely out of metal and had two rocket engines stuck to it. Her tail was mechanical after about two thirds her length and outfitted with a variety of different poisons and toxins, one more deadly than the last.
The only draconic part of her Hybrid form that remained unchanged were her horns. Even the scales could be both biological or metallic.
Each of them had different parts replaced by metal, and even most of their humanoid bodies were cybernetic. The only saving grace was that for some reason they could use their draconic shifting, as they called their abilities to switch between forms, to hide those metallic parts while still retaining their ability to switch forms.
If she would stop hiding her true appearance, she would be more fitting in a Terminator movie than anything else… Outside of a few of her organs nearly everything she had was mechanical.
„What? Never seen a dragon teleport in front of her home?“, she said in an amused tone to the people still looking at them. Despite speaking at normal volume everyone could hear it, and immediately the people began to murmur, much to Scythe delight. She loved reveling in the attention of others, showing them that she was the strongest around.
The group of five ignored the byplay, turning back to the residence. „Well then, let’s get going, I need a fucking drink“, Scythe declared and marched forward.
The door was locked of course, which presented exactly zero issues for them as Cluster simply overlayed a portal over it which she could open and close at will. She even made it look like the normal door just in case the Council or police would get a collective fit.
The moment they were inside Cluster really got to work. Three millennia of fighting had engrained caution into them and these days they didn’t go to sleep even once without fortifying their surroundings with all the magic they got. Not that they slept often. In general, they only need about a year of sleep for a century of being awake. If that was because of their rebirth and new bodies or the mechanical changes they didn’t know.
To all outside appearances the house would remain the same. However, to all those with magical senses, they would see the Fortress Cluster was building in mere minutes. Considering the firepower of Amnellium arsenal, compared to what Earth had access to, Scythe guessed that they didn’t need to worry about being broken into by anyone.
„Ayy, boss“, Grunts voice came from one room further, „I got the money. Who wants to go drink?“
Scythe smirked, „My favorite subject. Grunt, I owe you a blowjob later.“