“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

Thomas Paine, Founding Father

Milly gave a hefty sigh of relief when they entered the clouds that billowed around the mountain’s peak, sheltering them from curious, predatory eyes in the sky.

We should be safe now, assuming there aren’t any cloud monsters or dragons that live atop the mountain. Which… is practically a certainty in this world. Shit.

“Coco, stay alert,” Milly cautioned, her senses on high alert. She extended her hand into the clouds and channeled a tiny amount of water magic into it to fashion tiny crystals within, trying to sense any movement. She didn’t sense any, though she didn’t drop her guard.

Five minutes later, their platform carried them beyond the clouds, and Milly gazed upon the mountain’s peak.

“Not a mountain,” Milly whispered in awe. “A volcano.”

The very tip of the mountain had been blown off long ago, leaving behind a deep crater surrounded by steep slopes. Tiny puffs of smoke rose from its surface – the volcano active yet apparently stable.

It wasn’t just the crater that took her breath away. The entire perimeter of the crater was lined with a massive, interconnected village of two-story buildings. A network of bronze pipes – like those found in a sewage treatment plant – descended from two dozen different buildings into the crater, dormant but intact.

It’s not just the pipes that are intact. Everything is so well preserved. There are no collapsed buildings or fractured streets. Just a layer of volcanic ash covering every surface. It’s breathtaking.

The structures were built from brilliant white stone, with circular windows facing the ocean beyond the mountain to catch the pleasant breeze that floated its way up the slopes. Between each of the buildings were large courtyards filled with delicately carved fountains, ornamental statues, and long-dead gardens. Marble paths linked each of the buildings to each other in a complex that, Milly estimated, would have housed more than five hundred people if it were occupied.

Atop the largest building – the one their platform was now grinding to a halt beside – rested a large metal container that looked like a water tower. Six brass pipes fed into its centre, funneling its contents into the volcano – or, perhaps, drawing the volcano’s contents into it.

I saw that tower from the breach – that sparkle in the sunlight. What is this place?

It wasn’t only the metal that caught her attention. An almost imperceptible stream of golden threads descended from the sky – far beyond even her enhanced sight – towards the roof of the building. The color of the threads had the same hue as the halo of light she saw with her Detect Life talent.

Other than the threads, there was not a single sign of life on the mountain.

A river of life, flowing into a graveyard.

Milly lifted Coco off the platform as it ground to a halt beside a soot-covered marble pathway. Coco sneezed from the dust.

“Do you even still breath?” Milly laughed. “You don’t have any lungs anymore. How do you even do that?”

Coco tilted her head, and Milly caught a very clear impression of ‘you tell me, it’s your magic.’

“Fair enough. Come on, let’s explore. There must be something here that can help us. The gods wouldn’t have designed this place without a purpose.”

That is, if Hephaestus designed this place. Every step I take feels more and more disconnected from what I believed the wilds of the God Contest to be.

Milly strode through the courtyard, admiring the intricate statues and the black marble fountain that would have been gorgeous when operational. She knelt by one of the largest statues – perfectly preserved even after countless years – and examined it. Milly would have thought its subject to be human, but his exaggerated features and height gave him an intense, almost surreal beauty. Bright orange topazes, carefully carved into brilliant eyes, stared out at the dead world beyond.

She brushed the soot off the statue’s plaque, but it was written in a language she couldn’t understand. A language composed as much of hieroglyphics as it was letters.

A player screen suddenly popped up in front of her.

Language Detected

Species of Origin: Orianes

Warning: This language was not included in the Thirteenth God Contest protocols.

Players have been restricted from accessing this language.

“What the hell?” Milly whispered. “First the Waypoint Pillar wasn’t connected to the main network, and now I’m not allowed access this place’s language? What is going on…”

Milly’s Spectacles of Hidden Design abruptly flashed, and a second screen appeared, overlayed upon the first.

Oriane recognized. Override Accepted.

Commencing translation protocol.

Milly’s head exploded in agony as an entire new language downloaded itself into her head. She collapsed to the ground, hands grasping the side of her head until the pain subsided.

“Fuck…,” Milly moaned. She felt like she’d been hit with the world’s worst migraine – far worse than when the game downloaded a talent into her head.

Because I’m supposed to have those talents. I’m not meant to have this language, so it’s like trying to shove a round peg in a square hole. What the hell is going on here? This can’t just be another Arena. This is something else.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Milly blinked away the pain and gazed at the plaque, now able to read it.

At least it didn’t break my brain. Or… probably didn’t. I guess I wouldn’t really know.

“Administrator Bestian, 18th leader of Research Station Omega and Founder of Hybrid Research. Oh, this is the guy I have to thank for the harpies and the lizardmen. Wonderful.”

Coco nudged Milly in the butt and gazed up at the topazes in the statues’ eyes.

“What? No, I’m not going to steal them.”

Coco chirped in disappointment.

“I’m beginning to reconsider bringing you back to Passi,” laughed Milly, glad for the distraction. “She’s a young, impressionable girl, you know. You might be a bad influence on her.”

Coco huffed as they walked towards the main building. Milly brushed off another sign embedded into the stone at the side of the entrance.

“Research Station Omega. Isle of Experimental Hybrids. Archipelago Research Alliance. It’s the same location depicted on the Waypoint Pillar, so we’re in the right place. At least we didn’t climb that mountain for nothing. No mention of this ‘Project Rebirth’ though.”

Coco nudged the decayed wooden door, and it collapsed into a pile of fragments. She dashed behind Milly’s legs in alarm, until the dust finally settled.

“Come on, scaredy cat. We’re not going to find what we need out here. Just… watch your step.”

Milly strode inside, Coco at her heels.

The interior of the ruin resembled the outside – white stone with marble floors. It was an open concept design, with spiral staircases that weaved between the two levels. Marble-carved workstations scatted the floor, some with ancient glass beakers and scales still placed on their surface. The walls were lined with rooms – not offices as Milly had first suspected, but isolated workstations that could be sealed off from the rest of the complex. Bookshelves and cabinets were interspersed across the complex in a seemingly random pattern that escaped Milly’s comprehension.

The whole room was crisscrossed with a network of copper pipes, their design similar to the ones that led into the volcano though far narrower in diameter. Each had a tap that would dispense whatever the pipes were carrying to the Oriane at the workstation.

“It’s not just a research station. It’s a laboratory,” Milly breathed as she took in her surroundings.

Milly’s eyes fell upon the centre of the complex. There, resting on the largest workstation, was a black orb the size of a basketball, its surface untouched by the layer of volcanic ash that covered everything else. The fine golden threads that descended from the sky above weaved their way through the stone ceiling and coalesced at the orb, where they were absorbed into its mass.

Except for its color, the orb was a mirror copy of Hephaestus’ two memory orbs that Milly, Rain, and Calista had found in their journeys.

“Wait outside, Coco,” Milly said cautiously, remembering her first encounter with the damaged memory orb. “I’m going to get us some answers.”

She walked carefully across the complex, leaving behind a set of perfect footprints in the ash.

Approaching the nearest workbench, Milly channeled a tiny, targeted whirlwind that siphoned up the thick layer of volcanic ash on its surface and deposited it neatly into a pile on the floor. She chuckled to herself.

I’m never cleaning the normal way again. This God Contest world has its perks.

Milly leaned over the bench, her face pressed to the surface, as she took in the fine details under the dust.

It’s flawless. No nicks. No cuts. That glass vial by the sink is completely untouched. This workbench hasn’t seen a day of use in its life.

Milly gazed around the complex. It was similarly untouched – a magnificent, empty village swallowed by time.

I thought this complex would feel abandoned. But that’s not what I sense at all. This place isn’t a graveyard. It’s not even a ruin. It feels… empty. Like a newly constructed home that no one moved into. But who was it intended for, and for what purpose?

In the centre of the room, the black orb pulsed with energy as it absorbed the golden river of life, its outer surface swirling with dark colors, like oil on the surface of a pond.

Only one way to find out.

Cautiously, Milly approached the orb and pressed her palm against its surface.

… Rebirth protocol activated…

… Research Station Omega… population: 506

… Warning: Life Battery at 4% charge…

… Time to full charge: 2 years, 1 month, 4 days

… Population reconstitution limited…

… Prioritization complete…

… Commencing protocol…

Before Milly could draw her hand away, the world around her filled with a brilliant golden light, and she shut her eyes in alarm. Blindly, she stumbled behind the nearest workbench as the complex began to change around her.

She ran her fingers blindly along the floor and felt its smooth marble surface – no longer coated with the gritty ash of the volcano. The air became alive with a brilliant floral scent, like that of Rain’s workshop as she brewed her potions. She heard the sound of rhythmic footsteps, and the clink of glassware as the laboratory came to life.

A myriad of distinct voices, speaking the language of the Orianes, began to fill the once-empty complex.

“Burath, can you hand me that solution?”

“The vector hybrid isn’t stable. We’re going to need to try another breed.”

“Excuse me…”

“Administrator, we’re running low on refined compound. We’ll need the refinery team to work overtime tonight.”

Milly opened her eyes as the brilliant light began to fade.

The layer of volcanic ash had disappeared, leaving behind a complex in pristine state. Every surface sparkled as if it had been built yesterday. Glassware were filled with multi-color liquids – the source of the floral scents – and a gentle breeze wafted in from the open windows.

A dozen of Orianes were scattered about the complex, moving between the workstations in a flurry of activity. The air filled with the laugher of passionate people fully emerged in life’s ambition and the thrill of experimentation.

Milly couldn’t help but stare at the images of the Orianes. As human as they seemed on the surface, there was far greater variation in their appearances than existed with humans.

A ten-foot-tall giant – an incredibly muscular man with bright red hair and a long, pointed nose – carried three boxes of glassware under the direction of a three-foot-tall slender woman with silky green hair that nearly touched the floor. The woman tapped his knee – three times larger than her hand – and directed him towards the exit at the back of the complex.

At a nearby workstation, a man with gorgeous blue locks, wearing in thick goggles and a lead apron, knelt over a beaker, eyedropper in hand, as he finished his concoction. He coughed as a plume of smoke began to waft from the mixture, which turned into a full-on panic as the liquid caught fire.

This projection… it’s so much more… intense… than the ones from Hephaestus’ memory orbs. It’s like it’s replaying an entire moment in time for the whole village, captured in exquisite detail.

Milly watched with rapt attention as the scene played out before her.

“Hydel, that’s the fifth time this week,” called a man from the entrance way – the same man whose image was carved in the statue in the courtyard.

Administrator Bestian. This could be his memory.

“I’m sorry, Administrator,” came Hydel’s apologetic response over the laugher to his colleagues. “This combination seems to destabilize the compound with… unusually flammable side-effects.”

“Excuse me.”

“You’ll be cleaning the volcanic dust off the walls for a week if you do it again,” warned Bestian, though the chuckle in his words undermined the threat.

From the courtyard behind the administrator came the excited laughter of a young child.

“Dad! Dad! One of the hybrids has escaped,” the girl said with mischievous delight. “It’s so cute! Can we keep it? What happened to its head?”

Administrator Bestian turned towards the entrance, puzzled, as a woman pocked her head through the door in a huff.

“Administrator, you need to see this. I don’t think it’s one of ours,” the woman cautioned. “I don’t know how it got up here and… Enzel! Don’t try to ride it – it might bite. Enzel! Administrator, control your daughter.”

The administrator rolled his eyes and reluctantly stepped into the courtyard.

A hybrid? Wait… it can’t be…

“Excuse me, miss!”

A gentle hand tugged the sleeve of Milly’s gown, and Milly turned in surprise to see a short Oriane with peppered white hair and beady eyes staring directly at her.

“Miss, you aren’t allowed to be in here. Who are you?”