Trace Taylor quietly walked down the empty streets of Liberapolis. She was headed back for the commune, leaving behind the Precursors of Peace populated territory of downtown. While she had hastily left Sam behind because she was frustrated with him— with the date— she wasn’t exactly lying about having a lot of things to consider.

There was a lot to take in.

She’d finally met Noah Hawthorne, the Supreme Leader of the Precursors of Peace. It hadn’t gone the way she’d expected, at all. She thought he’d have somehow made an enemy out of her; he was supposed to be a pompous prick in charge of that insane cult. But… she disliked him a lot less than she wanted to.

Furthermore, their meeting occurred while she was on break. Vacation. When she had been under the impression that she was going on a date. If that wasn’t unexpected enough, Noah Hawthorne had dropped a massive bomb on her: that he knew about Ex and the Bne Worldeater.

Or, at least, the rough idea of it. Noah wasn’t privy to the whole truth— just that Ex was now sapient thanks to the Bne Worldeater. But he wasn’t aware of how the encounter itself went down.

[Why did you not tell Noah Hawthorne that the Bne Worldeater is dead?] Ex asked, taking on a curious tone.

The redhead sighed. It was a loaded question. She could’ve said a number of things— from not trusting Noah to not trusting his story. Even if he had been truthful, he could’ve very easily misinterpreted the Bne Worldeater, and that was a problem. But instead of articulating all that, she gave the simplest reasoning of all.

“You said it yourself, Ex,” she mentally replied. “You wanted me to prod him and confirm what he knows and doesn’t know. We now know he’s aware of the Bne Worldeater and aware of your sapience, but we also know he doesn’t know that we killed the Bne Worldeater before it could speak. With the way he seemed to worship it, he’d probably have ordered us killed if he found that out.”

The other important bits Trace learned was that Noah’s own AI wasn’t sapient. Which meant that Ex was special.

[Good,] the AI said, satisfied. [I’d rather it remain that way.]

The redhead came to a stop just outside of The Evergreen Gun Range. She was tired. Oh, so tired. She wanted to just collapse into her bed and hope the entire day had just been a dream. Unfortunately—

“A war between worlds though, huh?” This was reality. Trace wasn’t sure if such a war would even be preventable now, considering the Bne Worldeater was long dead.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

She thought of her friends. Of what they were possibly doing right now. Her best friend, Liz, was probably back inside The Evergreen Gun Range, sleeping or eating after spending a long day out at a Dungeon. She’d have gone with Ken, Jakob, and Kat— recklessly diving ahead of them to indulge in the thrill of battle.

Veronica was either still dealing with the fallout of the Onyx Lair Crew or was working a long night to maintain the peace of the commune. And Brandon was likely at the police station with her, trying to get his magitech generator to produce enough power for the commune.

There were others too, that Trace thought of. So many people she’d gotten to know across the course of this ‘apocalypse’. Jerome, Veronica’s partner. Stan and Meryl, the old couple who’d been so kind to the redhead. Nathan, Jackie, and Darius, the trio of idiots. Even Sam, despite the stunt he pulled, weighed on Trace’s mind.

And that wasn’t to mention all those she’d known from before this happened. The redhead fidgeted, thinking of her parents.

If a war between worlds did break out, it was going to affect all of them. No one would be safe. And that was just when people had begun to fully acclimate to the brand new ‘norm’ of the world.

Trace Taylor shook her head, and Ex piped up inquisitively.

[Is something the matter, Trace Taylor?]

“It’s nothing,” she said, pushing the door open. “I just fucking hope Noah was lying.” After all, things might already beyond fixing, and the consequences would be… well, actually apocalyptic, this time around.

And she would have to deal with the fallout.

* * *

The scene changed.

“THE FIRST PHASE IS COMING TO AN END.”

The blue planet was plastered on the screen. It was no longer the lifeless husk it once had been. Many humans had perished throughout the first month since the integration process occurred. The tutorial itself had culled a tenth of the entirety of the human population. And it had all gone according to plan.

“ONCE THE GATE TO KENA B7 IS OPENED, THE SECOND PHASE WILL BEGIN.”

And the scene changed.

It showed a room. An office of sorts. A grand painting hung on the side wall as a figure sat on the desk, staring out of the window. Noah Hawthorne thought of the events of the past day, wholly unaware that he was being watched.

“THIS ONE WILL BE OUR HERALD. OUR CHAMPION. FOR HE WILL LEAD THE FIRST ONES THROUGH TO THE NEW WORLD.”

And the scene changed.

This time, it didn’t show anything from the blue planet. Instead, it displayed a dying world. Empty. Overran with monsters. There were giant insects, winged lizards, and ehereal creatures without form. Amongst them was a spherical being with a hundred eyes. Its pupils snapped up all at once like it was facing the screen, and rings of golden flames came to life around its body.

“THE BNE AND THE ELOHIM MAY TRY TO FIGHT. BUT STRUGGLE AS THEY MIGHT, THEIR WORLD WILL CRUMBLE. THEY WILL FALL.”

‘Bob’ strode through the darkness, addressing the rest of the Esvol. They deferred to him, and he came to a stop before the screen. He spread his arms wide, laughing. The light on the screen grew brighter and brighter as the being with many eyes unleashed its flames.

“THEIR ARK WILL BE OURS.”

Bob finished, and the scene vanished.