Chapter 13
The feeble Dog
In front of a warm, cozy fireplace, a pair of small hands held what seemed to be a human skull on a first glance, but with a more careful look, there were slight differences in the shape of the scalp, eye sockets size, the three small rectangular holes where the nose should be.
“Interesting. Very interesting. How could I fall for such an obvious trap?” A voice of a girl no older than twelve came out accompanied by a loud sigh of defeat.
“So, the cockroach kept his word after all, but who could even dare to bury it so dee-. NO!, no way” gasped the owner of the voice, a little girl with pitch black wide eyes, black lips and long, dark hair with streaks of white.
“If what I think is true, things are gonna get real messy, I better go prepar- “
*WAAAAAAAHAAAA*
“COMIIIING! DAMMIT ASH, I JUST CHANGED YOUR DIAPERS” screamed the girl in annoyance, tossing the skull in the fire and running off to the second level of the wooden house she lived in.
Take care my love, if what I saw was true and it was really him, there is no escaping this time.
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Under a warm shower coming out of a snout in the ceiling, I started washing out what remained from the genocide we made a few hours ago.
“Are you sure it can’t just warp us directly to the cube?”
“Yes! Its own hyper warping engine didn’t form yet, and with its current speed, it would take us up to fifty years to reach the next cube. however, the FTL engine it consumed from the destroyer will help greatly with its development. It’s just a baby now, but it will eat and grow faster than you can imagine”
She changed again. Just like back at the colosseum, her voice changed, and her personality was getting more … Human. She calculated faster, drew more detailed interfaces, and even replied instantaneously to my questions. I figured out it had to with her merging with Pantharax.
“What do you think we should do now then?” I asked while rubbing a persistent blood smudge on my chest.
“Simple. We drop on Saturn, now known as Kyoto, and sneak into one of the cargo ships under fake identities, the journey would take less than a week since most cargo ships, especially the ones owned by Gigacorporations have direct access to warp gates”
“Kyoto? yea, yea I remember when you told me that japan took it over, and what about my ship?”
“Don’t worry about it, give it some time to graze around some energy, and he’ll follow us even if we were at the other end of the universe. Also, I am with it now, so I’ll update you on its status regularly”
“So, you’ll be with it? and me? Same time?”
“Yes!”
I found it strange, but she was a computer after all, how she will connect to her other self, I didn’t know, but I didn’t press on the matter anyway.
Stepping out of the shower, I went on to stand on a circular platform per Cordi’s instructions. a glass tube formed around me and warm air blew from below, drying every drop of water on my body.
“Cordi, how’s Pantharax able to do that? I mean, where does it get water from?”
“Built-in cosmic control devices”
“You mean magic!” I teased her while blowing out a whistle in amazement at the capabilities of my awesome ship.
“Yes Adam, magic” She repeated the word with a chuckle, her voice is even more alluring than before, radiating with a beautiful mature charm.
I got out of the shower room into the white hallways, to find dozens of small white creatures the size of a football crawling like spiders in every direction in unison, more of them were being born out of the walls every few seconds.
They had a round fuzzy body made from a furry material, two metallic antennas that ended with a pulsing light of different colors sat on top of their faceless shapes.
Twelve small metal thin limbs filled their bodies, allowing them to move in every direction whatever the surface was, be it a wall or a ceiling, slippery or rough, they moved unhindered.
“Cordi, what are these?” I asked my AI while reaching out to hold one of them, which in turn didn’t try to run away and welcomed my hand as if being wanted to be held.
“They’re called Helpaxes, they do all kinds of chores and maintenance on the ship, think of them as servants, handymen, or even soldiers”
The Helpax in my palm retracted all of its legs and started rubbing itself with my hand, it seemed to be really happy in there.
I activated my X-ray vision to check out the creature, and like Pantharax, it was a mixture between complex machinery and biological organs. A spherical beating heart at its core, surrounded by tiny machines that moved swiftly, the retracted legs were folded neatly at the edge of its body.
With my other hand, I playfully rubbed and tickled the creature's belly. A round mouth-like hole opened slowly in its body, and a tiny tongue started making its way to my cheek before it started licking it profusely while emitting some kind of purring sound of content.
I started laughing while rubbing the cute Helpax for a few minutes before putting it down to continue whatever it was doing.
Not far from where I was, I saw another one approaching, it was holding my clothes. As it reached my feet, it raised its tiny limbs, handing me my freshly washed “pre-historic” clothes, I crouched down and took it after I patted it, it also purred happily like the previous one.
“Cordi, I’m hungry, let’s go to the kitchen” I declared as I followed a map of the ship Cordi drew in my vision, it was way larger than I expected, the AI explained that Pantharax’s outer appearance differed vastly from its interior.
On the outside, at its current state, it was more than six hundred meters long and around two hundred meters wide. The inside was a whole other story. The ship was full of (dimensional pockets) as she called them, and it could be as large as I wish it to be.
“That is something you have to supply Adam, there is no edible food on Pantharax. You have to load the storages with food and the Helpaxes will store and cook it for you, but now, the only way you can feed is to land on Kyoto, and if you're into cannibalism, there are more than enough corpses on the ship to feed you and your friends for years” the AI jested, or wasn’t she? Either the case the thought itself almost made me gag.
“Ok, I get it, when the hell you became this vexing?”
“Six hours ago,”
I sighed in defeat at the canny AI, “Where’s Mahaar and Ryola?”
“Mahaar is sleeping in the entertainment room, and Ryola is at her usual spot on the bridge, I drew their location on the map”
“Sheesh! They’re too far from each other” I rolled my eyes, thinking that I had to walk around to each to inform them that we’re leaving, but before I can take a single step, two screens appeared on the wall.
Like a camera feed, it showed them each in their respective rooms. Mahaar was sleeping, drooling on a floating couch, and Ryola was holding Zao and staring at Kyoto from the bridge's large window.
“You will like this,” remarked Cordi with a teasing voice, and beside each of the screen, something like an ear creepily formed out of the surface.
“Come on, speak to them” bragged the AI, and to be honest, she had the right to, this was too convenient.
“Mahaar, Ryola, we’re leaving meet me at…” I stopped midsentence, not knowing where we’ll get off to the planet.
“Cordi, how the hell are we going to leave the ship?”
“Tell them to follow the Helpaxes to the womb room”
“The what?”
“Just do so, you’ll understand later”
I exhaled and went on with what she said, telling the quiet Laireen and the startled Grokati to follow the fuzzy spider creatures to the “womb” room. Ryola quietly followed and went out of the bridge, and Mahaar groggily did the same.
A few minutes has passed, and we found ourselves standing in a room with a large round membrane in the center, it really did look like a womb, minus the complex wiring systems on its walls.
“Adam, before we go, stick your hand out into the wall” instructed Cordi with a serious tone, steering me to a small opening on one of the walls next to me. I pushed my hand to the elbow into the hole and felt something wrapping around it, eating away my PDA while constructing something else in its place.
Taking out half my arm from the wall, I saw a long black armlet covering me from wrist to elbow. Few seconds passed, and the screen started lighting up, touch pads and interfaces turned on, just like a normal PDA.
“This will come in handy, it has the same functionality as the normal PDA, but its main use is this…”
The armlet took itself out of my arm and started spinning in the air and expanding like a sheet, a portal-like effect swirled in the middle, making me and my companions stare at it with raised eyebrows.
“With this, you can hop back into Pantharax from almost any location, you can also drop food rations here and the Helpaxes will take care of the rest”
“T-This is … AMAZING” I couldn’t hide my excitement at the awesomeness of the ship, I never went on a spaceship before, but I was pretty sure there was nothing in the universe could even compare to my star dragon.
“Now, get into the womb” instructed Cordi in a commanding tone, and with that, me and both my friends went on and hopped into the pinkish ball of meat and wires that was constantly expanding to accommodate Mahaar’s larger frame.
The moment we entered, the womb sunk down in a large gap that appeared beneath it, we spent a few seconds falling down in the large hole with meaty walls, the ball started picking up speed until we found ourselves shooting out of Pantharax’s mouth like an oozy bullet.
I gazed upon the mighty dragon one last time before we went wherever the womb was shot at, its yellow eyes were staring directly at me in grief, giving me a slight heartache for parting ways too soon with it, I opened my mouth, dumbly sucking as much air as my lungs can hold.
“BE SURE TO GROW THE ENGINE FAST AND FOLLOW US SOON, I WILL COUNT THE SECONDS TILL YOU CATCH UP TO US, MY MIGHTY PANTHARAX” I screamed with all my might, knowing that it wouldn’t even hear me, but at least I hoped it'll understand my feelings.
“Adam, you could just speak to it via the armlet, there was no need for what you just did”
“Adam?”
“S-Shut up!” I mentally murmured to the mocking AI, failing to hide my embarrassment.
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In the year 132 A.W, the Asian Alliance announced its acquisition of planet Saturn. In the years following the announcement, thousands of colossal colony ships left earth, heading into the new promised home, planet Kyoto.
After the reconstruction of the gas planet, funded by the Noran empire itself, seven planets, nearly the half size of earth were formed, floating in an artificial orbit inside Saturn’s original atmosphere.
Seven interconnected planets inside one big giant planet hosted more than fifteen billion humans of multiple origins.
Of the seven, one particular planet rose to power above the rest, with its unprecedented technological advancement in the robotics field that even rivaled most of the universal empires, planet Neo Tokyo.
The citizens of Neo Tokyo had an innate natural talent and extreme passion for working on robots, almost everyone, from the young children to the elderly had a degree in a specific robotic specialization.
In 1104 A.W, a war for the dominance of Saturn broke out between planet Neo Tokyo and the economically superior planet Xian. With years of preparation and hundreds of billions of credits spent on powerful space fleets, planet Xian decided it’s time to take over the microcluster by vanquishing its longtime rival, planet Neo Tokyo.
What Xian forces intelligence failed to unveil, is that the Neo Tokyo forces has their own trump card, and as soon as the mammoth Xian fleet made its move and crossed the neutral zone into Neo Tokyo’s borders, it was met by what made people remember that event to this day, as the G day.
Colossal Robots, armed with massive guns and energy swords and lances that spanned hundreds of meters of pure concentrated energy, emerged from the defending planet of Neo Tokyo and started wreaking havoc on the Xian fleet.
The Xian forces had never been trained to face this new kind of enemy, so they just started using their old tactics, which proved to be futile to a high degree, and after the Neo Tokyo fleet has wiped out the last remnants of the fleeing Xian fleet, Neo Tokyo announced its undisputed control over the microcluster, renaming the outer planet from Saturn to Kyoto.
The seven planets in the microcluster Neo Tokyo, Xian, Delhi, Olistan, the united Korean kingdom (UKK), Neo Arabia, and Planet T15.
“Wow, they surely made their robot obsession come true, thanks for the history lesson Cordi, I guess Pantharax threw us to new Tokyo then?”
“Yes, and for your information, I’m the one who coordinated this destination, we had a better chance to get a faster cargo ship on Xian, but I know you are obsessed with old Japanese culture" boasted the AI as if she made a favor for me.
“well, you sure didn’t spit us out of your mouth, but thanks anyway” I mentally stuck my tongue out to the cheeky computer, only to be met by a playful giggle from her, making me forget the approaching planet and the fireball that is now the womb hosting us and entering the planet’s atmosphere.
“Cooooorrrrdiiii? do we have some kind of parachute? I don’t think you’ll be able to fix me this time if we hit the ground”
“Yes!”
“What do you mean by y- WHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” I instinctively squealed in panic as the womb accelerated down, moving around like a trapped animal, I felt a pair of tree trunks grabbed me from behind holding me in place.
“Mahaar, what are you doing?” I turned my head at the grim-faced Grokati murmuring something.
“…”
He didn’t reply, instead, he started a quiet prayer to his Goddess, his arms tightening even harder to suppress my increased flailing.
“RYOOOOOLAAAAA” I looked at Laireen standing firmly, not even bothering to look in my direction.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS, WHY ARE YOU ACCEPTING DEATH THAT EASILY?”
“CORDI, WINGS, NOW!” the dark ground was getting faster and faster.
“CORDI, CORDIIIIIIIIIIII” it was too late for wings now, it was over.
We hit the ground with a muffled splat, it wasn’t really a hit, I barely felt it.
The womb started opening, revealing the area around us, it seemed like we landed on a mountain in a relatively remote location indicated by the lack of movement.
Mahaar finally let me go and took a few steps away to stand beside Ryola, his face reddening like he was having a hard time to breathe, then he finally let it go.
“BUAHAHAHAHA, HAHAHAHAHA, YOU HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE, BUUAAAAHAHAHAHA” He couldn’t hold it anymore and started laughing hysterically for no reason, we nearly died a few seconds ago.
“WELL PLAYED CORDI, IT WAS A GOOD ONE, BUAHAHAHAHAH” Mahaar dropped the hammer on me while holding his stomach, unable to contain his laughter. Tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
“WHAT? CORDI? HOW?” I couldn’t believe what the Grokati was saying and couldn't help but ask him directly.
“We met her on the ship, and she told us that she’ll speak to us in your new PDA, she also told us about this little trick we played on y- YO- BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA, S-SO FUNN- BUAHAHAHA” he was defeated by the hysterical laughter and dropped into the ground holding his belly.
“Cordi, what exactly did you tell him?” I spoke mentally with the AI, wanting an answer for whatever the hell she did.
“He had to know Adam, keeping him in the dark about me would have led to trust issues, he’s not as simple as he appears to be, that might surprise you, but he’s actually smarter than an average human, and the Laireen already knew about my existence”
“I know he’s smart Cordi, don’t change the subject-, you know what, screw it, let’s just go”
I looked back at the silent Laireen standing near the Giant rolling on the floor, she didn’t say a word, but her eyes were no better than Mahaar, full of laughter.
“You too Ryola?” I wheezed with a groan of frustration, she just turned around to hide the small giggle that followed.
“Sorry!” she whispered quietly, switching Zao to her other shoulder.
“Let’s just go guys, but remember, I’m going to fucking pay you all back for what you did, including you, bitchy AI” I wasn’t really furious anymore, seeing everyone around me happy actually made a drastic change to my mood.
“Try, if you can” This time her voice came out from the armlet on my left, now I wasn’t the only one who was hearing her.
We waited for a whole minute for Mahaar’s laughing seizure to end while watching the remains of the womb shrivel and dissipate into thin air, then we went on our way to explore what japan came to be.
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On a big artificial mountain, the three of us gazed upon the night city of Akihabara, up in the sky, there were trillions of flying small discs the size of a mosquito connected like a matrix, Cordi explained that they were weather control robots, responsible for maintaining the day/night cycle humans had on earth along with other weather variations from sunny days to snow storms.
Going down the slope and getting closer to the bustling city that was named after one of the most prominent districts of Tokyo back on earth.
The city of Akihabara was built at the base of mighty artificial mountain Fuji, and it was truly an architectural curiosity, all shapes of human and alien building in a vast multicultural harmony, but the planning of the city itself had the Japanese flavor.
Curved multi-thousand floored skyscrapers covering the skyline with its nearly endless length and numerous colors, along with the usual eye-catching advertisements almost covering half of the buildings.
Transparent wide tubes swam across the sky, with what seemed like metro cars running through it at an incredible speed, Cordi explained that it was a form of public transport for people who couldn’t afford flying cars.
Along a familiar river line we walked, my hood and mask hiding my face and my AI hiding our identities, my eyes kept searching left and right for something my curiosity kept nagging me about for a while, until a particular ad popped up on one of the screens, making my 1500 years old heart jump in Joy.
The most generic anime character, on an ad I didn’t really care what it was about. Dark blue hair, blue eyes and holding two red guns in an awkward pose, standing at the top of a giant robot with a sword and shield.
“Yesss!” a spontaneous happy hoot escaped my grinning lips, making my companions turn their heads in my direction in confusion, I just shrugged and top them it was nothing and we should get going. Tomorrow, I was going to make a solo trip and find out what did I miss.
We entered the premises of the biggest commercial district of the city, shops and stalls everywhere with everything I could have imagined and more, food and beverages, toys, souvenirs, exotic animals, sex shops and …
“Sir, would you like to try some fantasy?” An unnatural feminine voice grabbed my attention, I turned to see a large shop with several stalls on its front, each of them equipped with a large holoscreen and a set of tellers that looked identical. Somewhat tall figure, long hair, fairly attractive girls stood near each stall, calling out passers and offering their services. Cordi explained the strange similarity of the tellers that they are not actually human but androids dedicated for the job.
“Fantasy?” I questioned in a bit of confusion raising my hairless eyebrow.
“Of course,” she confirmed with a smile “With Occutech’s latest technology, you can be anything you wish, would you like a tour of our available programs?”
“I guess” I was a bit curious about this service, it seemed like an advanced version of virtual reality back in my old world.
“Great!” Beamed the girl with a clap. “The first program we offer is the famous “Legendary fighting god” where you can be a poor citizen of a powerful kingdom who takes on a journey to end the reign of an evil overlord that threatens the sector
“You will meet the nineteen beautiful warrior princesses which will become your own personal wives if you would like, also wield the two swords of an ancient fallen gods, who can turn into beautiful girls you can add to your harem
“You can’t die nor lose versus the overlord because you discover that you are a reincarnation of a god yourself-”
“Boring, what else?” I interrupted her cliché fest of a story I read, watched, and played hundreds of times.
Without a slight hint of annoyance, the android continued with the next program. This time, the holoscreen behind her lit into a scene of a mountain with a robed Noran standing on top doing some kind of meditation.
“This is our most popular program by far, the Noran who defied heavens. As you know, the Noran are one of the best races at cosmic control, with a handful of them being actually able to convert energy to TWO different elements
“In this program, you become one of those legendary Noran controllers with two elements of your choice, we actually wanted to add more elements but we ran into legal problems. Anyway, you will fight many fallen gods and races, conquer planets and harness the energy of the universe, and make your own personal harem.
The energy capacity levels are controlled by a core in your body that you can upgrade with tiers from one to nin-”
“Stop! Stop, stop, no thanks” Like the previous one, I already knew about everything that she would say, plus I was so hungry I wanted to leave the stall before my stomach start eating itself.
“Sir? Sir, please wait” The girl desperately pleaded “let me just show you the last offer”
The screen changed again, showing the petite shape of an anime girl in a French maid dress.
“I couldn’t help but notice your interest in prehistoric things judging from your clothing, this is one of our special action-packed programs, we call it “Loli luv” she whispered the last sentence with a wink.
I looked up at the pixel pornstar on the screen and started laughing noisily at the scene.
“Sorry lady, but I’m not into this stuff, plus I already have my own loli living in the back of m- Ow, OW OW OW, sorry Ev- OUCH! STOP!” It was like someone kicking my brain from the inside, I imagined the little girl buffing her cheeks and staring at me with her hands on her hips, and after a couple of moments of pain, she stopped.
“Jeez, I was joking, you’re such a kid” I murmured while scratching the back of my head, the teller in front of me probably deducted that I was behaving abnormally and her artificial smile was no more.
“Thanks lady, we’ll be going, let’s go Ryola, Mahaar? … Hay Mahaar we’re going- what the…”
I looked at the next stall where the giant stood motionless, staring at the screen before him, his gray face is melon red. A wide friendly smile on his teller’s face.
“Mahaar?” I called the frozen giant.
“S-She, she’s so beautiful” muttered the giant, it was like he just saw another of his father’s arms.
I focused on his screen to see what Cordi stated as a female Grokati, but what I saw was just another Mahaar with boobs and lipstick, but I didn’t want to interrupt my friend’s happy moment, so I went to the stall and paid for his fantasy.
“We’ll be here in the restaurant around the corner, meet us there after you finish, let’s go Ryola” I delivered my last sentence to the mesmerized giant before heading to some restaurant around the corner.
It was actually good that Mahaar wasn’t around, I wanted to have a private conversation with the woman I knew nothing about.
We sat across each other on a floating table, holographic interfaces popped out from the table with a nearly endless food variety.
“I know you didn’t eat for a while. So, go ahead and eat as much as you like” I said to the nearly drooling Laireen staring at pictures of roasted meat. She didn’t even pay attention to what I said and started tapping the interface, ordering as if it was her last meal.
Minutes later, the table expanded to accommodate the huge piles of food we ordered, and without delay, we dug in like wolves.
I raised my eyes from the food at the monster devouring food like there’s no tomorrow.
“Do you want to go back to him?” I suddenly spoke my mind, making her pause for a moment and just stare at her pile of pinkish meat.
“I’ll take that as a no. You know, you’re cured now, you can do whatever you like, whenever, and wherever you like”
She didn’t react, just sat there like a mannequin. Her crimson eyes showing glints of sadness, and I couldn’t allow that to happen, she has suffered enough.
“Look at me!” I gently ordered in a serious tone, and she reluctantly complied.
“My name is Adam, 1552 years old, the most average guy you will see in your life, in December 2016 I was forcefully kidnapped by a race called the Exorians, they cut me up and put Earth’s DNA into me, making me the Walker of my planet and installing a weird, sophisticated bitchy AI in my head, you probably knew that much
“you also know that the life of a Walker is not an easy one. They die in the end, which I’m not planning to do”
“I also forgot to mention that I have memories of some old Emperor King God something in my head, I'm still not a hundred percent sure if its hallucinations or not, but you experienced the weird powers I have first hand. Well, we’ll talk more about that later”
“Now, you. I know you lost your memory, or to be exact, they were stolen from you for some reason as Zao told me. I know you lived a painful life without tasting any relief, and I still don’t know much about you, but I’m planning to
“You tried killing me once, and I know you didn’t want to, but why you were so determined, that is still a mystery to me. However, I have absolutely no idea why I am attracted to you and Mahaar, I really can’t explain that feeling.
“If you go on your own now, you will be hunted down, at least that’s what I understood from that Shipol guy, and if you really want to, I won’t force you to stay with us
“So, Ryola. Last of the Laireen. Would you like to be my companion? For real this time!” I offered with a warm smile, reaching out to her with my big hand in a handshake, I didn’t know the Laireen’s alternative.
I failed, She bursted in tears.
“YES!” Ryola bellowed, dropping her spoon and reaching for my hand with both of hers after a few seconds of hesitation.
“I’m sorry f-for try to k-kill y-” Tears flowed from her eyes like a waterfall.
Was what happened that night was still bothering her all this time?
“It’s okay Ryola, I already forgave you” I brushed her hair with my other hand, only to make her cry louder.
This woman is seriously broken I thought, swearing to myself not to let her experience this agony ever again.
“I can’t promise you that it won’t be dangerous with us, but what I can promise you that I will do my best to get you back what was stolen from you the same promise I made with Zao, we’ll go to the cube, find that fucking Mekshima and rip his fucking heart out, but not before I know why he did it, now let's eat up, I’m still hungry as fuck” I jested with a chuckle, easing some of the sobbing Laireen’s thoughts.
She silently dug back into tear filled plate, and Mahaar was coming back from the shop with a wide grin of satisfaction on his face.
“Ryola, don’t worry we’ll take care of you” I finished the conversation as Mahaar sat down and opened his menu interface.
“Yes, we’ll take care of you, don’t cry” The Grokati repeated with his wide grin, forgetting everything he previously had in mind about the “treacherous Laireen” as he used to call her. He was smart enough to understand what our conversation was about.
The woman kept nodding, not able to stop her tears, but I knew she was a little better now, I eliminated any doubt she had about me hating her for what she did. Hell, if I didn’t care I wouldn’t go through all trouble of curing her.
A few hours passed, and Mahaar was wrong about me having a black hole in my stomach. The winner of that food fest was Ryola, eating more than me and Mahaar combined. Where all the food went? I have no clue, but criticizing a lady about her eating habits isn’t a very nice thing to say. And I was quite the gentleman.
*BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRB*
“By Gola, how did you ea- Ugh!” I elbowed the Giant in his side, and he immediately understood what I meant. He didn’t even dare to apologize to the slightly blushing woman wiping her mouth.
After I refused to hack the bill, we paid for the delicious food and went on our way, preparing ourselves for a big shopping spree, I wanted to buy a new armor for Ryola, some random stuff, and fill Pantharax’s kitchen to the brim.
People looked at us with wide eyes as they saw me drop boxes of food, furniture, decorations, and other things in a hole in the void portal. We just gave them a non-caring look and continued our endeavor, and on the other side, Cordi said that the Helpaxes were already organizing everything I threw in there.
The last place we visited was a weapon and armor hypershop, seemingly endless shelves of all kinds of weapons and armors in all shapes and sizes.
We spent too much time strolling around the hypershop, with Ryola finding neither practical nor good looking armors, until I detected a hidden space behind a shelf in one of the far corners of the shop.
“Cordi!”
“On it”
She guided us to a remote area, and a wall suddenly slid open, revealing a whole new section of the shop, and while we browsed, Cordi took care of the rest.
It didn’t take us long before she found a suitable jet black armor, not as black as her old one, but it looked cool nonetheless. I tried picking something for myself too, but everything I tried didn’t give me the lightness and comfort of my pants and sweater.
We got out of the weapons hypershop as quiet as we entered, Ryola with her new jet black armor, Mahaar adjusting a top hat that he randomly picked from a shelf and found a liking to it, and me, I was just pulling out the excess fabric of my pants from my butt and complaining that I couldn’t find anything I liked.
The trio of us walked for several hours under neon lights illuminating thousands of figures walking, crawling and hovering the magnet-controlled streets.
After a couple of yawns, I asked my companions if we can find a place to spend the night, we had a long day before us tomorrow. With the AI’s help, we located a small hotel a couple of blocks away and headed for that direction.
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A huge black skyscraper towered above the rest came into view, it had no windows or doors, just a long big block of black stone in the middle of the district.
“Cordi, what’s that building over there?” I asked for info about the strange building that peaked my interest.
“This is the intergalactic school of cosmic control, ISCC for short. One of the many schools built by the Noran across galaxies for their elite youth to train in different environments, it is believe-”
“A MAGIC ACADEMY!” I interrupted the blabbering AI, “Ryola, Mahaar, we’re gonna take a small detour into that black building over there” enthusiasm filled my voice, not making any space for my companions to argue.
Walking at a steady pace and filled with joy, I reached the entrance with my companions, and it didn’t take time before Cordi broke the side door’s mechanism, revealing a luxurious well paved and decorated yard, with a group of Noran youngsters laughing and pointing at someone sitting on a staircase with his head between his legs like he was sleeping.
I hid behind the building and crouched down, intrigued about what the young magicians were saying.
“Cordi, some help!”
“You still mad because of the womb prank, aren’t you?”
“Later Cordi, I can’t hear them well, do something”
“I-I’m sorry Ada-”
“Cordi!” I didn’t want to act like a scumbag to her, not like she had feelings or something. But I wanted her to think twice before acting recklessly like she did. Maybe I was immature, but that’s just how I felt.
The burning sensation arrived again as a slight tingling in my ears, followed by the fastest mutation I have yet to experience, Cordi now clearly had some kind of an upgrade after merging with Pantharax.
[Canis] [Rattus] [Columbidae] [Galleria mellonella]
-Augmenting DNA strands…
-Morphing cells ... Adding stem cells … Connecting nerves.
-Forming advanced pinna structure
-Expanding cochlea
-Adding auditory canal
-Widening sound frequency reception
“Cordi, if I see donkey ears in my head, I’m gonna be very, very angry”
“Don’t worry Adam, it’s rat ears” countered the AI with a chuckle, making me expand my gaze back to see what she had done, it was more like wolf ears, strange, but not that bad.
I perked up my newly formed ears, it felt like installing a new premium sound system, everything the group spoke entered my ears crystal clear.
“How long are we going to be stuck with that Araki, I’m fed up with that filthy half breed’s attitude” argued one of the robed young Norans.
“Three years, eight months and two days” replied a calmer one with a sigh of defeat.
“You know we were ordered to keep an eye on him, so shut up and let these three years pass in peace, it’s nothing but mere minutes compared to what this scum will live” ranted a third, pointing with his chin at the figure sitting on the stairs.
“But, but he can’t even form the simplest of energy conversion, let alone not having any psychic powers. Why should we, the elite adepts stick with him?”
“Because, again. He’s the son of a Lord, half-breed or not, an order is an order, or do you want to face the wrath of his father if something happened to him?”
“N-No, I wouldn’t dare, but why did he send that Araki to this far corner of the universe, in this shitty remote sector? And why would even a Noran lord that strong have such a weak, foul creature as a son in the first place?”
“Come here!” the calmer one grabbed the feisty one's head and whispered to his ear, the third one just kept staring at the one sitting on the stairs, he probably knew the info that was being whispered.
“They say that fifty yers ago, the Noran Lord had intercourse with one of the wild natives of planet Bakthu'm when he was drunk, and half a year later, the woman then gave birth to this thing over there. The father was reluctant to kill his own son, so he kept his existence a secret avoiding the scandal and kept sending him into remote ISCCs across galaxies for protection.
“As you can see, the kid was born deformed, a shame to all Noran. No psy, no cosmic control, he’s even not that strong physically , not to mention that he’s nearly blind. I don’t know why he have that attitude towards everyone, but we have to bear with it until our guarding shift rotates and some other poor souls come to guard him in the next school” The calm Noran finished his lecture and let go of the now-less-edgy one, the trio of them just kept watching the one that they called Araki on the stairs.
“Cordi, tell me about that Araki over there”
“Araki is a breed of animals spread across many sectors, usually stray. Their breeding is very hard to control since Araki lay around three hundred eggs each two months. Araki is usually a cowardly animal unless its litter is threatened or cornered, here’s a detailed picture of it”
“Cordi, that’s a Dog, a two-tailed Dog”
“Well, the visual similarity cannot be denied, but the biologica-”
“Nevermind, I’ll go ask him myself” I ignored her yet again and went away with my friends towards the intriguing man on the stairs.
We got to the staircase, and I reached out for the guy with my long arm several steps below him.
“Hey you, get your filthy hands off Master Saido right now if you don't want to lose it” the loud one from earlier hissed at me, his arm was now covered with fire and shooting in my direction, but it was met with two fingers, each larger almost the size of the arm itself, Mahaar caught his forearm like he was holding a mouse by its tail.
“Let go right now you barbaric scu- “
*Crack*
“AHHHHHHHHAHHHHH”
With a small pinch, Mahaar broke his arm, his bloodlust starting to fill the air.
“Mahaar, it’s alright buddy, we’re not here to cause trouble, I just want to see the guy”
The giant let go of the now-yelping Noran, allowing him to join his two friends, who've now acknowledged me as the group’s boss and started focusing on me with glowing eyes.
“Guys, I really wouldn’t recommend what you’re tryin-”
*SPLAT*
*SPLAT*
*SPLAT*
Three almost headless corpses fell down in a blue bloodstorm, joining their kin in Eve’s backyard.
Letting out a sigh of annoyance, the hope that a day passes without watching someone die a gruesome death vanished. I turned back to the motionless guy, who was probably sleeping, judging by his nonexistent reaction from what just happened.
“Sorry dude, they didn’t like you anyway, hey man! wake up” I called out to the motionless guy, and he finally spoke.
“F-Fuck off”
“Eh?!” I was puzzled, he certainly didn’t understand what was happening.
maybe he’s mentally ill?
“Come on, I just want to talk” honestly, I did, I was trying to find some info about the race who have been hunting me for a while, and the corpses few meters away from me said that he was the son of some big shot.
He finally broke his slumber and stood up. Aside from the bluish skin and the triple nostrils, he looked nothing like a Noran.
A short figure around 150 centimeters, bald head, and small jagged teeth, but what really caught my attention were his eyes. Completely black with two bright blue irises, giving him a badass scary gaze.
“I-I said, fuck off. D-Didn’t you hear me the first time or do I have to repeat it with my fist, in your face, with fire” growled the … whatever he is, trying to make the scariest face he could.
“Dude, I’m over here” They certainly didn’t lie about his eyesight, he was speaking to me while looking almost looking at the opposite side.
“Y-Yes, what t-the fuck you want? Death?” he still didn’t look directly at me, but it was close enough.
the problem is that he was trying to be intimidating as much as he can, but his shaking knees, stuttering, and his racing heartbeat gave him away, making me waste energy trying to suppress my giggles.
“No, as I said before, I just wanna talk for a bit, that’s all” I replied to him, trying to be as friendly as I can.
“There’s n-nothing to t-t-talk about, now get the fuck o-out of the school and take these s-shitbags with you” he hissed, pointing at the corpses of his so-called guards.
So, he knew they hated him, interesting, but yeah, his attitude is pure shit.
I scratched my head, trying my best not to smash his skull
“Listen man, I’ll just ask you a couple of questions and we’ll be gone before you know it, your name is Saido, right?”
“I SAID NO” howled the half-Noran, spreading his arms wide. “LAST WARNING, FUCK OFF”
To be honest, I thought he looked rather funny more than intimidating until a serious warning rang into my head.
“Adam, I’m detecting huge amounts of energy gathering in his hands, I recommend that you take your friends and flee, NOW!” She was dead serious this time and I felt it too, something bad was going to happen. I saw sparks zapping between his fingers, a clear warning that he was up to no good.
I took two steps back and was ready to grab Ryola and Mahaar and run from whatever he was doing, but my gut didn’t agree with me, something unexplainable inside me told me to step toward the guy, not away from him, and despite the numerous warnings in my head, I did.
“STOP! D-DO NOT COME ANY CLOSER OR I WILL BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF, PUNK”
“Punk? I didn’t know there was a Noran word for that. Saido, chill ” I tried to calm the guy, but instead, veins started popping all over his face and neck, the guy was getting bluer by the second.
“AAAAAAH, HUNNNNNNNNNNN” he started groaning like he was casting Armageddon on the school ground, or seriously constipated.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”
*Fart*
Mahaar couldn’t take it and fell down on his belly, laughing like he was getting tickled with a thousand features. I just peered with half closed eyes at the Noran who was acting like nothing happened, but the increasing blue hues on his cheeks said otherwise.
“Man, did you just fart?” Trying to tease the interesting failure of a magician.
“I-I did no s-such thing, don’t lie you f-filthy s-s-scum”
“you really are an interesting fellow, now listen...” My face suddenly turned serious, I reached out to his collar and lifted him up, trying not to choke him to death.
“I’m gonna ask questions, and you’ll answer everything I want you to, or, you see that big guy rolling over there? He’s going to play bowling with your blue bulky head, ok Saido?”
“H-HOW DARE Y-YOU! LET ME GO RIGHT NOW YOU ANIMAL! DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” howled the half Noran gritting his piranha-like teeth, staring down a magnetic bench few meters across.
“Ummm, an Araki? and dude, I’m right here” I grew frustrated at the blind guy, and his unexplainable arrogance was getting on my nerves.
His piercing gaze softened, turning into a one of sadness. The word really hurt his pride, making him say something he probably didn’t want to.
“I am Saido Alaaly, son of lord Mekshima Alaaly, the mind killer and one of the hands of the Noran emperor himself, now let me go this moment or you and the people with you will suffer the consequences with your lives and the lives of everyone you ever loved” threatened the guy who I expected to start flailing, but he just stared down with a stern look, a meter or two away from me, but it was clearly directed at me.
“I don’t really care if you’re even the empe- EEHHHH?”