Walking around in the warm desert of sand, the veiled Mary listened to some extra tapes that laid around in the backpack. Unlisted and not numbered, it was probably old cassettes of music, pornographic material or some sort of saved television show serial. Sometimes it had some news reports that a gave a little insight in what happened during those times.

'Great, now my eyes are melted off even more.' Mary said sarcastically to herself, accidentally watching an old blue movie of some random folks making love to each other. 'Silly NZ, why would he keep this inside together in the bag. Seriously? He should have been more careful, luckily I have come of age sometime ago, or not, I would have been scarred for life.' From her sarcastic tone of voice, it was safe to say, she didn't mind the cassette. Switching over to some other leftovers, she stuck herself to a tune of a mix-tape featuring both 21st century artists and some random add-ons of classics.

As she continued her slow waltz through a classical tune, she notices a sand-rat bouncing around, sniffing the air. Standing by in search for food probably. ('Careful little fellow.') She whispered to herself towards the critter as she noticed a rattlesnake closing in for the kill. A time too late, the snake failed to catch the rat as it immediately backed away. The snake who immediately gave up, dug itself back into the sand, hiding and watching for its next meal. 'To be honest, it has been a while since I ate snake.' Mary reminded herself. 'Maybe one day I should hunt for some. Hunting deer and fruits or herbs the entire time is getting boring, I need a little more of a challenge.'

Pulling out her USP, she takes a quick look at it before holstering it back into her pocket. A little bored, she was than usual. 'I could visit nearby ally villages, but I feel reluctant to walk all the way to one. Hey, maybe I could visit the tree house for a change.' With an excited smile, she ran towards the east, reaching towards the forest as she reminds herself every step she took and counts over time.

'Now, it should be around here.' She asks herself as she follows a path with a few familiar looking bushes nearby. It should be one of this bushes for the entrance. That is definitely the tree-house over there.

Looking on the grainy sand and the direction of the incoming wind, she deduces a bush and looks through it. Eureka! She found the trapdoor. Pulling it open , she slowly climbs into it, shutting the trapdoor and dropping onto the corridor. Through it, she then lights a flare as she slowly walks through the dark and deep corridor. 'Alright, this may take a while.' She told herself.

Climbing yet another long ladder, she knocks her head onto a trapdoor. 'Ow!' she squeaked as she slowly pushes the trapdoor open. 'Thanks for the welcome, dumb trapdoor.' She blamed it as she manages to stand up. Kicking the trapdoor close as 'revenge', she then looked around the room, as she opened the windows and a door, leading to the balcony.

'Some fresh air. Ooh! This tree-house supports electricity. There's a kettle and also some bags of tea and coffee.' Curious as she is, she prepares herself some coffee after filling up the kettle with water she brought along through a flask, kept in her rucksack. Waiting for it to boil, she heads to the balcony and watches the scenery. 'This is awesome. I can see half of the forest from here.' She happily said.

So that is how it supports power.' She notified herself as she notices a Solar Cell on top of the tree-house's roof. With her pair of binoculars, she played 'I spy' with herself looking for any fauna or flora that catches her attention. 'A little change of pace, this feels relaxing. The smell up here is cool and refreshing.' Hearing the sound of the kettle finishing its boil, she slowly fills up a mug of grounded coffee powder with the boiling water. 'What a smell...Its aromatic. Don't tell me NZ home-made this coffee beans, its freshness is able.'

Sitting on a chair by a small wooden table on the balcony, she blows on her cup of coffee and takes a sip. 'As bitter as it will always be.' She told herself as she places the mug on the table. Clearing her rucksack, she took out the notebook, few of the following numbered tapes and her gun, just in-case things go wrong.

'Right, it's time to solve this mystery.' With a small inked fountain pen, she plays a tape as she prepares to write some extra notes on her own diary she made some time ago.

---Tape Start---

As the tape started, the whirling of the tape became a little static. The sounds of stumbling crowds and the huffle and buffle of everyday life. Depressing as it sounds to the current time listener, it gave her a reminder of a time where there were more people still alive. 'Is this what they call a shopping plaza?' She asks herself as she notes the sound into her diary.

'The sound of a bell rung as a shuffle of footsteps and a door swung open. 'Welcome.' A voice called out as a small bang could be heard. 'A table for how many?' A feminine voice asked.

A familiar voiced answered. 'Table for four, oh yeah, we also have a reservation for the high-tea special.' With a more relaxed masculine tone, the voice answered.

'Alright let me check, yes we have the special on-board, what is your reserved name please?' The probable table checker asked.

'That would be Endicrite.' The voice belonging to William answered. 'Miss Endicrite.'

'Ahh~, Miss Endicrite. We got you on the list, come take a seat. Your friends too. Right this way.'

With the sounds of shuffling of footsteps, the sound abruptly stopped. 'Here is the seat, is that all? The waitress will be by your side later.' The table checker answered before she walked away.

'What a lovely place, been a while since I took a break here.' The belonging voice of Sherrinford answered. 'Wish, Continuum gave us more breaks every so often. Like seriously, we are still teenagers, young adults. Training and studying 24/7 is more torturous then having a death-mark on my face.'

[The recorder switched to a personal security camcorder]

'You said it..' Chau-min answered back as she was looking through a catalogue of food and drinks offered.

'You already know what you guys are already ordering?' Sherrinford asked.

Shanina and Endicrite nods back at her. 'We two mostly come here secretly on our small free times. Nothing much but at-least we have some time to stretch our legs and read a book.'

'Wait wait, you two didn't tell me you guys went about together to the cafe. What else more is hidden? Tell me.' Sherrinford asked in a very grapevined tone.

'Nothing more, nothing less Sher'.' Shanina answered back. 'It's not like we're dating anyway. We barely have time to know each other since we're mostly at work half the time.'

William nods slowly, signaling afterwards a waitress to take their order.

'Would it be nice to know when will the high-tea special is finished prepared? We would like to add-on some orders.' He asked towards the waitress.

The waitress nods and answers 'Sure, I would do a check up' Before briefly walking to and fro from the cafe's kitchen.

'Another few minutes more, approximately 5 more minutes, would you like to take the extra orders now and bring it along together or what would it be?' The waitress asked.

Nodding towards Chau-min and Sherrinford, the two lasses ordered the extras they wanted before the waitress noted it and left.

'So anything special?' Sherrinford asked. 'I mean in Continuum, got any good stories to share.'

'Well, for me and Will's case, we managed to break into an abandoned high-riser and got some Intel from the interrogated axis members. Will here was doing the most of the talking, as his guardian seems to be adept with language understanding skills.'Shanina replied.

'Wait, so William learned to growl and grunt, so he is now a dog. Hahaha' She laughed.

Stolen story; please report.

'Ha ha ha.' Will smirks in a annoyed tone. 'You are the one acting more like one, running around in the nudes at random nights, while mumbling about gibberish about some lost key.'

'Shhh....' Chau-min whispered.

'Hey, what?! I do that, you are joking right?' Sherrinford embarrassed, she covers her face.

'Not our fault that you seem to have a sleep walking problem, Sher'.' Shanina snickered as she pulls out her book from her purse. Reading her book, she closely listens to William, Chau and Sherrinford converse with each other. She was more a quiet and calm individual, a more laced and introverted person, in a more psychological way of interpretation.

'Wait, so how often does it happen again?' She asks.

'Every two to three days Sherrinford. Once you even pressed your whole entire bust onto my face as you searched under my damn pillow. I almost suffocated to death because of that.' answered William.

'What? You're seriously joking.... Please don't say yes.' Sherrinford made a surprised face as she hits her head on the table accidentally, 'Ow!'

'Actually I saw it all. I sighed in relieve that it didn't happen to me. If it was me, I think my windpipes would have been crushed.' Chau-min intervened.

'Fuck off, its more embarrassing that a .....dude..... got pressed on than you, smolsey.' Sher replied back with an embarrassed tone.

William takes a look at Shanina and shrugs as she glanced back at him and gave a small smile, understanding the pure nonsense that is happening.

'Hey, language. There are kids here Sher', probably their mothers too, give some courtesy, right, Miss 'I came from a wealthy family'.' Chau-min angrily scolded Sher.

'My apologies smolsey.' She answered back.

With that, the waitress came to serve trays of small cakes and desserts and as well as a pot of freshly brewed tea in small miniature tea cups. Other than that, some iced tea and a few other extra orders were placed on the table as the waitress smiles and greets them to enjoy their meal. 'Anything else?' She asks.

William looks at the other three. With the looks of satisfaction, they nod. 'Its fine for now.' he responses.

The maid nods in response before walking back to attend other customers.

Closing her book, Shanina reaches over the tray to take a cake of her choosing as Sherrinford kindly pours everyone each a cup. 'Thank you Sherin'.' William answers as he slowly reaches for a sandwich.

'Hey smolsey, want to share this cake? I know its your favourite.' Sher asked.

Chau-min who is used to the annoying nickname nods in a agreeing notion as she cuts half of her truffle chocolate cake and exchanges it with Sherrinford.

Enjoying their high-tea, the four had a few conversations on either very dumb topics or some highly detailed explanations in the usage of the world of science or geography. Mostly only around William and Shanina's case.

'I mean William The Rampage sounds really really similar to William The Conqueror, alright. Its funny how your sister and the generals just decided to slap that onto him.' Sherrinford asked. 'I mean at-least Shanina's and my nickname makes sense.'

'True, like Shanina has the ability to go invisible with the help of her guardian and blend through objects hence her nickname 'Geist' meaning ghost, then there's yours Sherrin with 'Guardian'. For some reason, it confuses me for Guardians from time to time. Then there's mine and Chau-min's which I dare not say because of its odd pronunciation which literally means 'Cat' .' William answered.

'Ah, Goyang-i Yeah, that means cat in Korean. But it fits because my guardian is a cat. My sister has odd naming procedures.' Chau-min shrugs.

'I mean yeah, you are right. Considering your height and behavior like a cat, heh. But William barely quote-on-quote rampages. He just doesn't follow orders and runs straight ahead the battlefield for some reason. Not only that but his emblem is the only thing similar to his guardian which is a wolf-fox thingy, I think. A dog? No no.' Sherrinford shakes her head in confusion.

'Relax Sher, My sister isn't what I can say isn't normal. She sees things differently so let her be. If the generals like the nickname, uniform and emblem she offers, they can smack it however they like.' Chau-min answered. 'Even if the next person is going to be named something like 'Cow.' That would have been a better nickname for you Sher'.'

'Oh shut up.' She blandly makes a face as she sips her iced tea.

'Oh eyah, on the topic of Guardians, why don't we just summon them around like how the others just normally act?' William asked. 'Isn't staying in a pocket house kinda boring from time to time?'

'No, not really. The guardians plane is a country on its own. They have their own facilities and places of interest too. The crystal only works as a key gateway to their houses but if you want to stroll around their town and et cetera, you need permission from the guardians you are contracted with and the elders themselves. Its a safety procedure so no ruckus can happen or corruption stuff to happen from what I heard on it.' Shanina answered as she places her fork down.

'I see-' As William answered, the sounds of screams could be heard outside of the Cafe.

'Hmm? What is it?' Chau-min asked as she peeks out, noticing a couple of familiar looking beings, randomly stabbing and shooting civillians. 'Fuck, axis.'

'Axis? Everyone get down!' William shouts as he immediately jumps out and taps his glasses, summoning his guardian crystals. Shanina came out from her seat and pulled out her gun from her pocket. Sherrinford a little slow, was dragged out by Chau as they secretly hide through the darkness and devised a quick plan.

William pulled in a few of the injured civilians as Shanina points out to the other hidden soldiers in disguise to target and look out the area. Chau-min and Sherrinford's Guardian healing up the injured civilians. Shanina and WIlliam nods to each other as they take quick shots towards the more vulnerable axis members.

William smacks himself as he twirls around at the centre of the plaza, speaking in Axis. 'Hey, over here!' The axis soldiers confused, they ran towards him. They however didn't shoot him because the speaking of their language made them assume that he was their commanding officer. Patting one of the shorter axis member clones after hypnotizing it with a sweet whisper.He takes her rifle and shoots the other one beside him. Still in the hypnotisation, the axis member gives him the locations of the other members through the GPS and hands him a map. These map was valuable, it was directly ahead towards the main headquarters of Axis and its branching offices which were the construct of most trades and stolen goods. Pleased with his find, in Axis, William grunts towards the member to handcuff herself before he removes her vest, which showed the rotting skin of her body of the chest region. 'Fuck sake that's disgusting.' He told himself as he straps the vest onto himself as he reloads the rifle.

Aiming his rifle, he guns down a few attacking axis soldiers heading towards Shanina and a few other civillians.

Shanina nods towards William as she kneels by a tree and watches the roof and a small corridor, summoning her guardian's whip as a weapon. Gripping it tight and a minded incantation, she goes invisible.

William taking proper care of the surrounding not to get shot, he evacuates the civilians slowly inside the cafe and other shops and stay quiet. Some guardians who had access to proper weapons decided to assist as they guarded the shops and took a look around.

'Any strange sounds you hear, miss?' He asks a dog-girl of a guardian.

'No, not for now. My ears cannot pick anything.' The dog-girl answered.

...'Wait, I hear some grunts, 6'o clock and 2'o clock.' She whispered.

'Gotcha...' William answered as he holds his hand to a grip to signal to stand down towards the other soldiers as he slowly crouch walks to the directed areas. He hears some muffled chatter as he slowly aims his rifle towards it. A sound of a walkie-talkie.

Looking over the not alerted individuals, they were recognizably axis, but one of them stood out. She looked fresh as if turning to one. Usually most axis derived from being corrupted but the newer generations tend to be kidnapped and brainwashed folks, leaving William to believe we got a controlled freeman. Whistling a tune to distract them, he shoots of the actual clones and stabs the other one.

Using his free hand, he grips the fresh one with a neck-hold as she tried to attack him with a rusted and blunt bayonet. 'Too late there, girl.' With his access to a stun-baton he recently bought, he smacked the head of the turning maiden as he handcuffs her with his own pair. Listening to the walkie-talkie, he fakes a female tone and spoke in Axis to stop the attack. With that, a reply answered back saying ok and shuts off. Turning off the device, William smuggled the important devices to hand it over to the intelligence table soon. Impressed witht he beauty he caught, he gives a smile to the sleepyhead and carries it over slowly as he heads towards the others.

Noticing Shanina tired and breathing hard in the corner, he heads to her. 'We're good. The fight has been stopped. I got some items which can be useful. Directions, Smuggled goods and the best of all corrupted guardians.'

With a heavy breathe, Shanina smiles a little and replies. 'Never better.'

'Nice catch there, by the way. Fresh one. Right for the cure.' Impressed with William getting a little more courageous in his arresting acts. 'Do more and you will be a full fledged private or higher.'

'That's only if we ever have more time.' William replied.

While still carrying the bodies, he notifies the guardians and the staffs of the buildings that it was safe again with a shout.Glad that the problem is over, everyone got back slowly to their everyday life. Reinforcements and a few ambulances arrived after some time to dispose of the axis corpses and put the arrested axis members in custody.

Chau-min a little covered in blood and some flesh of spurting organs, made a blank stare. 'I think we may need to visit the steam bathhouse. Where's Sher anyway, I barely saw her anywhere.'

'Me? I was busy taking care of the other side of the plaza.' Sherrinford answered as she had a few bruises here and there as she held a rusted rifle.

'I was wondering, because your guardian was taking care of the work most of the time.'

Sherrinford's guardian, a griffon of a maiden, smiled towards a child and assured that she was safe. With a motherly attitude, she calmed the child before walking towards Sherrinford and the others. 'Well, I guess we managed what we could do Miss Sher.' The guardian answered. 'Ah, nice to meet you Mr.Endicrite, the names Griffon, of the Beasts clan.'

'Nice to meet you Griffon.' William nods in respect to her slightly pretty looks and attitude compared to Sherrinford. Her motherly feeling and her intimate instincts gives a highly opposite sense compared to Sherrinford.

'I shall get going now. I got to report to the elders. See you later everyone.' Griffon waves before dissapearing in thin air, Leaving behind feathers of a white fluttery hue.

'Hey Sher, she acts the total opposite of you yet have a balanced wavelength, why's that?' William asked as they shifted back to casual clothing. Since the attack happened, they were not given a payment for the high tea and were excused to return back to Continuum.

'Well, maybe that's how I truly am. But not nearly there yet.' Sher chuckles as William smirks.

Chau-min heading towards the Continuum's recreational centre, she invited the other three as guests to take a shower and pop into the steam bath or Jacuzzi if they feel like it.

After the shower, in the nudes, the four decided to head by the Jacuzzi, relaxing themselves. 'Calming...' Chau-min says.

'Thanks for the invite Chau, we needed something to wash ourselves off the bloody mess.' Sherrinford brought out.

'No problem. All in a day's work.' Chau-min answered.

As William didn't want to be a dick towards the others and record them nude, he turns off his recorder after reaching for it.

---Tape End---

'So the Axis soldiers can attack in broad daylight too, huh. So they are like terrorists then. Interesting. Wish I could know more about his partners. Wait! It could be one of this unlisted tapes, I have to search around then. There's too many.' Mary told herself.

'Also it's late, I shall leave.' She said to herself as she sips the last drop of coffee in her mug and heads inside of the tree-house, locking up everything and heading off towards the sunset.