Voyage Through the Multiverse (Ended) [IC]

[The Japanese Americans]

TGWR
Lee
The Vault

Lee almost felt dizzy by the speed at which things changed. Now everyone suddenly started heading into the corridors again in about a minute. He had just figured things out too, and now he was confused again. And he hated not knowing what exactly was going on about as much as a sorcerer does, which is about five times more than the average person hates it. He sighed, trailing a little behind of the group. And now there was a big metal door in front of them.

The blonde dude he had noticed earlier back on the Fortressa had already cut through the door, revealing that the door had lead to a vault. And even with his magic being restricted, he could sense all of the magic items in there. And most of all, his instinct was telling at him that he had found loot. Okay, first off he needed to get more Skill books. There was the book section, and in less than 2 seconds he was already running his hand along the spines of them, waiting for the System to prompt him with whether he wanted to learn it or not.

-snip-

Lee felt something strange suddenly. His magic sense was sensing something weird and dark. He turned and saw that one girl who had run past him I the hallway before. What was her name again? Oh, right, Miria. She was holding a crystal that had suddenly flashed a black-green color and sparked at her. Surprising. Then she apparently paused for a moment before looking around and scooping it into her belt pouches. Then she ran back out. Odd things were happening. He would have to ask her about it later. He grabbed the three Skill books he had found and stuffed them into his Inventory. He headed back out of the Vault. Time to be a mindless follower again.

[Menschenfleisch]

Scourge of my People | Cherry and Nomad

To be honest, the whole operation was a blur. Cherry’s mind had been so completely dedicated to the task of analyzing her enemies and calculating the precise moments at which she should slit their throats - as well as where to lay their bodies - that she’d temporarily lost the ability to form new memories altogether. She had been like a drone on autopilot, acting on predetermined code and only maintaining a small amount of RAM in case of emergencies. Her efficiency had been startling and more than a little abnormal, considering how under the weather she had been earlier. Throughout the whole operation, however, she periodically raised her forearm to her face and dragged it sharply to the right. Nobody figured out what the cause of that behaviour was but if they had looked closer they would’ve realised with each successive swipe, her sleeve got damper and heavier. She had been wiping away blood - her own blood that leaked from the corner of her mouth and which filled the capillaries that criss-crossed her sclera, throbbing like rivers about to burst their banks. She proved herself to be an apt climber, assassin, runner and hand to hand combatant all in the same night. When she first began the operation her kills were sloppy and her footwork even more so but as the night dragged on she slowly grew more and more skilled, appreciably improving both her finesse and efficiency.

Did Alastair believe he was doing something wrong? Not necessarily, no. He knew he was being an accessory to a string of murders but his opposition to violence was only partially moral. He understood that without him being there the guards on duty that night would’ve certainly met with grislier, more permanent fates. He did his best to avoid engaging them at all but on the odd occasion that he was forced to actually take one down he merely choked them out rather than killing them outright. These acts of ‘mercy’ slowed him down considerably and thus he lagged behind the rest of the group in spite of his unique advantages, those being invisibility and a mechanical physiology that granted him much greater control over his limbs and body than was typically afforded to humanoids such as himself. Eventually, he found himself where he needed to be. He remembered everything that’s transpired up until that point in perfect detail, every morbid moment and every revolting detail. He replayed the sound of someone’s throat parting in his head over and over again, listening to their windpipe parting and their blood gurgling faintly. He was revolted by gore and repelled by death, yet he found himself here nonetheless. His mission required it. He needed insight, clarity and information - even if the act of acquiring those exposed him to such things as… this.

Their personal internal monologues were disrupted by the arrival of The Matador and the subsequent intervention of AEGIS. The conflict was over as soon as it had begun, with only a few casualties on either side. As Cerise stepped out into what appeared to be- no, which was definitely a Northern forest of some kind, she flexed her body and allowed it to reconfigure. Her flesh rippled as organs, bones and lumps of muscle reorganised themselves beneath her skin, bulging in some places and sinking in others. When she finished adjusting her physiology her skin had taken on a pale pink tone and her eyes had been replaced by an enticing honeycomb-like structure, with a miniature golden eye sitting within each hexagonal cell. The effect was mesmerising, even intoxicating. Alastair, on the other hand, immediately found another member of the group - Sekhmet - to hide behind while he surveyed his surroundings. Water, trees, grass, clouds… and a totally different atmospheric composition. Wherever they were, they’d travelled a long way to get here. ”So,” he began, ”What’s going on now? We succeeded, right? Or is that no longer our top priority?”

[Skylus]

TGWR
AEGIS Base

"I found this." Madi half turned to see Link walking up to her, holding a small glass vial in his hand.

"Where was it?"

"In the vault, on a table. Thought it looked interesting. And the black dust inside is strangely colored."

The Hero of Winds looked down at the vial and then titled it a bit. "There's something engraved on it. Maybe runes?" Link then opened the vial, not knowing that opening the vial caused invisible dust particles to rise into the air. "Hmm...It smells like charcoal. Interesting."

He handed the vial to Madi, who tried to read the engravings on the vial. "Yeah, I don't know what these runes say." On a whim, she decided to down the contents of said vial and then tried to read the runes again.

"Madi, did...Did you just...swallow the dust?"

Madi titled the now empty vial back a bit and grinned. "Why not?"

[Naval Monte]

Secrets of the Raven

Elizabeth look surprisingly calm despite her earlier stunt and the risks involved if she failed. Of course most weren't close enough to see the micro trembles on her hands and legs, her adrenaline still coursing through her body as she shook from the fear of how close she was to death just seconds ago but also shaking from excitement as she felt jubilant from the death defying stunt. The witch was an unabashed thrill seeker and one of the reasons she chose to go with her plan was to feel the rush she felt during the moment and is still feeling now, albeit it was slowly going down.

Berith turn to look Jackie as well as the samurai, both demons looking at her with different emotions. The demon lord was uncertain on how the girl would react to his presence and he himself wasn't sure how he felt about the human. On one hand she aided in part of freeing him but the memory of being stuck in the web wounded his pride. The samurai was indifferent to Jackie. A few Desprayes glared at her for possibly being responsible for the death of one of their friends. The horse was walking towards it's master, all of injuries now healed.

When Jackie presented her wounds to Elizabeth the witch blink at the grotesque sight before. "How the hell are you still conscious?" The witch asked, puzzled by the girls shocking fortitude. Elizabeth looked up to see Alasehir and a thought came to her, one that made her smile at Jackie. "So an infotroph wasn't enough for you huh? You had to have an incubus as well. What's next, a siren? Harpy? Mermaid? Are you going to make your own monster girl and boy harem while staying in this world?" Elizabeth in an accusing, albeit amused sounding, manner as she placed both her hands on her hips. 

"Do I have to worry about you trying to convince Andarta to join in your budding harem?" She asked as her grin grew wider. Elizabeth wasn't going to let her incest joke between Elizabeth and her mom, she just needed to wait for the right opportunity to get her revenge. The angel floated closer to the two. "While you may be trying to live the dream most basement dwellers have, I'm merciful enough to heal you. But you must stand still." She instructed. As the angel hover above the two it began to gush out blood from it's still an open wound, the blood spilling on the occult expert and alchemical apprentice. As the blood splashed on top of them with almost comical effect as it literally made the two entirely red Elizabeth didn't show much reaction to being covered in blood. 

The blood fall would cease as the blood began to sink through their clothing and into their skin. As the blood enter her body Jackie would see the damage on her arm being fixed. The skin being pulled and fused together, bones being moved and popped into place as they began to mend. Torn muscles and tissue began to fill up with new flesh and nerves were restored to their former glory.

When the arm was fully repaired the witch clap her hands together, a resounding also bring heard. "So you encounter a hostile fauna while you went on your little side quest? What did it look like?" 

Mai looked to where Metis was and saw the automaton was now sitting. She walked over to her, ignoring the fatigue and pain she felt as she reached the automaton, reaching down to place a hand on her shoulder. "Can you walk Metis?" The robotic girl shook her head. "I sustained too much damage to go further. I will need time to heal. I suggest you all go without me." She looked at the two goddesses. "I think asking them for assistance would only serve to annoy them and think we are becoming dependent on them."

Mai frown as she was aware of the two goddesses mention on not wanting the group to become too reliant on them to fix all of their problems. Still, this can be an exception right? They need as many people on their side to stop the Crimsonites. "Besides." The android continued. "The nanities are already working on repairing any damages in my system. I will catch up with you soon." The android tried to assure but Mai wasn't satisfied with the answer as she hmph'd at the suggestion.

"If we leave you alone you will be picked off by some cultists or hostile local fauna or summoned servant, we are either going to stay until you are healed or you are coming with us." The firebrand declared as she sat next to her, her legs crossed as she folded her arms in front of her chest. "And because you weigh a ton the last time I tried to carry you I'm staying with you." The android looked at the girl and nodded. "I understand." A small smile appeared as she turns to look at the group.

"I think it's best if you stay back too. You exceeded far past your limits and are not only burned in more places but you are running on fumes. If you push yourself too much you might end up burned beyond recognition." Metis warned. Mai rested the back of her head on the chamber wall as she looked up. "Yeah, you're right. I push myself too much back there. But I couldn't stand around doing nothing while you guys were risking your lives against a demon lord. I saw my chance to be useful and I took it. I have no regrets on doing that." 

The firebrand stated as she was trying to ignore the stinging pain from her burns. She felt so exhausted, she was close to passing out but the pain was keeping her up. Rolo looked over at the two. His clothing was tattered but the runes that made his skin durable to block the blades ensure he was free from scars, although past scars indicated that wasn't always the case.

The Norse man looked over to the two. "So what do we do with the demons?" He asked as elsewhere in the chamber  Wei was standing on top of a few Desprayes that tried to attack him during the attempt on freeing Berith before the release. The man was breathing deeply as his veins were returning back to their normal color and sinking back. Theodore survey the chamber with his golem to look for any traps while Richard did the same with the Hellthrone Weeds he had stored.

"We let them be." Elizabeth said as she took out two spellnotes. "I think they would rather go home than stay here." She looked up at Berith. "Though you helping is will be greatly appreciated." She told him before turning her attention to the two summons, leaving the demon lord to contemplate the idea. She would chant a spell and the two summons would have their bodies dissolve into a maroon cloud and enter the spellnotes, to be summoned later. 

"Oui Dawn, when will my mom come back? Because I rather have her return in my lifetime." She asked the red head as she put away the spellnotes. As she turned to face Jackie her expression was more serious than before "Also Jackie, did you go to one of the tunnels before the rest of us? I didn't see you at some point in the fight. I figured it was that or you were incarnated like a good deal of my other summons. Did you find the wankers who bound Berith and made the golems?" She asked the alchemist apprentice as she saw a few Desprayes walking to the incubus. "Also your new friend is gonna be alright with those guys?"

---

Seeds of Anxiety

The man smiled yet it was clear from his eyes and from the smile that while there was some joy in hearing that his world was important something bothered him. "I suppose if more people heard about that it might make them more motivated to protect this world from whatever eldritch horror decides to invade this world. I never really thought that this world was that important or it was part of a grand system. I just figure the connections to other worlds was just a random phenomenon, one of the many questions of the universe that both science and the occult still struggle to answer." He would adjust the collar of his coat as he got up. 

When Ava stopped to say something that appeared to be very important Herbet almost laughed when he heard what she actually wanted to say. "Oh, thank you. Miss, can I have my meal to go?" He asked. 

Once they were back on the street the man waited with the other for the cab. "Pretty much. The new director is worried about reprisal from the Reaver, especially once she realizes we are still on the town." When Valerian asked to to be shown around his new home Herbert smiled. "I can take you to the new base but the tour inside I'm afraid will have to be done by someone else. I have to return back to Queensport. Though perhaps we might meet again, Lludw Cigfrain and Queensport have gateways that connect to each other. The two are particularly sisters despite being very different." 

The trio would see a black van approaching them. Herbert was silent as he thought heavily on what to tell Valerian. No, the real question was whether Valerian should know about what he is about to reveal. As the cab arrived Herbert opened his mouth but found his words stuck for a few moments. When the doors to the cab were open he would finally say. "Valerian. Does the words Final Nights mean anything to you?" Herbert looked at the man with a look that told him that despite the cryptic words he was serious.
---

The old man looked over at the old clock next to the register. "It's close to 6.00 PM. It's close to me closing shop before that man barged in to try and rob me." The old man explained. The chime from the door was heard as two men enter the store. One was an older portly man with a bushy mustache and balding patch of graying hair on top of his head. The other was taller and much younger and was clean shaven, his brown hair was a mess however. The two wore police uniforms.

"Good afternoon sir. We heard about an attempted robbery." The older man asked as he looked at Dawnson. " My partner will take the man to our car." The younger man walked over to Dawson. "Sorry love but you have to come with us as well. You're breaking the law owning an unauthorized weapon." The man sounded apologetic for having to arrest Dawson after she stopped a robbery in process. He took out the handcuffs. "It's best for everyone if you don't resist ma'am."

[Demincia]

Seeds of Anxiety
Lludw Cigfrain, Cymru
Rosanna Dawson

Everyone had a similar accent, so it was safe to say that the criminal wasn't a one-off. She watched the two police officers come in for cleanup. Typical. Of course things would have to complicate themselves when the younger of two tried to arrest her as well. Definitely the United Kingdom, then.

She straightened her jacket some. "No need, gentlemen. We're on the same side here." She opened the left side of her blazer so the man watched her reach into it and pull out a badge. "Federal agent, on assignment. Well, not this specifically, it was more of a happy coincidence of being in the area, but you get the gist." She opened the bade showing the gold FBI shield with an ID card on the other side. "I think a call to the US Embassy will have this all cleared up amicably for everyone."

Rosanna wasn't worried. Once word got to Special Intelligence, her SAC would back her play and pull as many strings at it took within the State Department to make the whole matter go away peacefully. "I don't think handcuffs are necessary, professional courtesy? Speaking of, I'm gonna need mine back from your perp. Government property and all."

[Menschenfleisch]

Seeds of Anxiety | Avarice and Tone

Herbert was a man who seemed from the outside to be perpetually infirm and inconstant in how he carried himself. He held his arms close to his body and though he spoke effusively, he did so with the quiet and unvoiced understanding that he was only doing so because he was obliged to speak when everyone else was quiet. He was, unfortunately, a man who didn’t like playing who also just so happened to hold all the cards. The truth of the matter was, however, that he had absolutely no qualms about talking to others; it was just that having spent so long entrenched in bureaucracy, he found it difficult to unwind and participate in casual discourse. He could orate for hours on end about the benefits of departmental architectural partitioning and deliver lengthy monologues on the nature of internal financing and sub-macrostructural talent assignation. Simply put, it just wasn’t in his job description to have breakfast with people, much less make small talk. He lamented, sometimes, about the fact that he had yet to find a wife despite his age - but not out loud, of course, since there was nobody in his office willing to listen to him talk about his personal life. All of his colleagues, too, were swamped by paperwork and business meetings.

Perhaps that was why Valerian knew at once that Herbert was serious when he said the words “Final Nights”. His whole demeanour shifted, and his face hardened like rock. No more was the sleepy and reserved man he’d met, and in his place sat a razor sharp intellect with tales enough to tell until his dying days. ”Final Nights? I can’t say that I’ve heard of the term.” Herbert spoke softly yet tersely, like a cotton blanket backed by a mesh of steel. “It’s a prophesied… well, not prophesied so much as predicted event that will occur within the next century. Every supercomputer, gestalt and fortune teller on the planet - and even a couple beyond it - agree that within just fifty years, this universe will be overrun with anomalies. The number of incidents that AEGIS has had to deal with have been increasing logarithmically since 1988, and possibly even before then. This universe is dying.” Valerian, with his hands in his lap, pondered the man’s words for a moment. Final Nights? That was a bit of a trite name for such a cataclysmic event, wasn’t it? But if what Herbert had just said was true, it would certainly explain why AEGIS had made such an effort to colonise other universes in the recent past. ”Well, if this is about what I said earlier, don’t worry about it. The death of your universe won’t harm adjacent ones, it’ll just destroy the pathways they once had through your universe. Think of it like a piece of road being torn up: it’d be inconvenient for the surrounding buildings, yes, but they wouldn’t be trapped or destroyed. Pardon the insensitivity, of course. I don’t mean to suggest-” “No, no, I don’t mind it. I was just curious. Truth be told, I probably won’t even live to see the day that AEGIS drops the veil - this cloak and dagger stuff - and comes clean about what’s been going on to the public.” The cab ride was utterly uneventful, though Avarice spent the whole time looking out the window and pointing out random things. ”Look over there! It’s a blade of grass precisely 2.459 inches long! Did you know that the 7,826,114th up quark from the left was once a particle of Ghengis Khan’s left eyebrow? And look over there! Approximately 9,615 kilometres away - behind around nine thousand kilometres of rock - is the Bay of Islands in New Zealand! And over there, there’s a dog eating the remains of a child who was mauled to death around seven minutes ago!” Valerian immediately grabbed Ava by the shoulder, pulling her in order to look directly at her face. ”Where?! Tell me where, now!” She gave him a bit of a perplexed expression. ”What? It’s just a bird.” ”As in-” ”A juvenile Eurasian Siskin, yeah.” Sighing, Valerian slumped back into his seat, staring out the window. Lludw Cigfrain passed by: old brick factories and walled off compounds gave way to brightly lit Chinatown streets where all the buildings were covered by blue-tile awnings and propped up by red wooden beams, before they too were replaced by gothic stone chapels and 18th century storefronts, their windows still made out of iron bars rather than glass. This place hadn’t ever been uprooted and replaced, it had simply expanded outward over time. As one moved closer to the center of the town, they seemed to travel back in time toward the day of Branwhrn’s founding. ”So,” He finally began: ”I’m not going to be cooped up all the time, am I? I’m not going to stick around if I’m going to spend my days playing poker with the cafeteria staff and reading the paper.” Ava perked up, raising a hand. ”I, on the other hand, would be perfectly okay with that arrangement!”

Secrets of the Raven | Jacquelyn

The truth was that Jacquelyn wanted to leave and bury her head in a pillow. The sound of gunfire and even just the faint pitter-patter of steel on stone made her want to turn and run. She was surrounded by violence - engulfed by it, in fact. Fighting seemed inescapable, and it seemed to her that no matter who she decided to be and what she decided to do, she would always be forced to inflict harm upon others somehow. Before she had been nothing but too gleeful to get a good fight, back when she had relied on her firepower to carry her through the story. She’d been naive to think that it would ever be that simple, or that the authors would ever let her just breeze through the narrative like that. She realised now that she had relied far too heavily on her powers not because she was confident in them but because she was unconfident in all of her other skills and accomplishments. Back then, all that she had considered herself to be was a walking conduit of power. Now that her powers had been stripped away, she felt utterly hopeless. She wasn’t an intellectual or an arbiter of morality, nor was she even a particularly good comedian. She was purposeless, both within and without the story.

Jackie knew that she was forged by perception; she was precisely who the authors and the readers thought she was. That meant, too, that Kyle had been what the readers had perceived him as. Did that mean that at the beginning of the story, before he had shown his ‘true colours’, he’d been a real friend to her? Did that mean that when the authors had retconned him into being a heartless pragmatist they had ‘killed’ the version of him which had been her friend? There was a sinking feeling in her gut and a pressure on her skull that she could not ignore. The act of murdering a character via retcon felt like a violation of their personhood: it was an insidious form of assassination, so subtle and so abstract that there was no way to counter, predict or even realise it had happened. Kyle had once been her friend, she knew that now. The authors had killed him and put a monster in his body, just like how they had murdered old-Jack and had replaced her with who Jacquelyn was now. She understood what she and Kyle represented now, and she would’ve been driven to tears if she didn’t find it so unbelievably funny. ”You fucking dick,” she whispered. ”Delivering thematic exposition through a character’s internal monologue? What is this, Onision’s fourth novel? Wait, fuck, you’re not actually Onision, right?” She was using humour as a facade, of course. In fact, as far back as she could remember, the only purpose she’d ever used jokes for was to distract both herself and others from the ugly things that she didn’t want to talk about. She was angry, furious even. A rage brewed and curdled inside her, simmering just beneath the surface. She felt like a taut string or a pressed spring: ready to snap at any moment, hardly moments away from a breakdown. She trembled involuntarily, but wrapped her hands around herself in order to calm herself down. She wouldn’t go mad! She would buck the trend and keep her cool. Raging against the heavens wouldn’t just do her no good, it was also a stupid cliche.

Jacquelyn stretched out her freshly healed arm, testing each joint in turn. It was a little stiffer than she remembered, but it would do for now. She smirked at Liz’s provocation; ”Is that jealousy I hear, Lizzy? I mean, it’s not like I don’t understand why you’d be envious. After all, what thirty eight year old wouldn’t be afraid of a chipper early-twenties lookin’ stud stealing all of her romantic interests? You’d better watch out, Ashwood. There’s achad in town!” She wiggled her eyebrows a bit just to drive the point home. Bad jokes (and even worse dialogue) aside though, there were pressing matters at hand that she had to address. ”I- I can’t remember the name of the thing that I saw. Z-... zebra? I mean, haha, no, no, I didn’t see a fucking zebra. Zeloth! It was a zeloth. Y’know, a skinless thing with big claws and lotsa teeth. And no, I didn’t see anything besides the Zeloth. Wait! No! I did see something: some weird baby looking thing with two heads. It threw a rock at me, but that’s all that I remember.”

The Great Wizarding Rebellion | Polly and Kiara

AEGIS certainly hadn’t done a slipshod job of building the site: the vault was enormous, meaning that much of the vault’s floorspace was completely barren and unused. Its interior dimensions shifted and quivered as she looked around, like the walls themselves were uncertain of where they were supposed to be. It was undoubtedly the effect of some anomalous ritual or object, perhaps even one contained within the vault at that very moment. She surveyed her surroundings, looking for anything that she might be able to use. The vault was sparsely inhabited: most of it was useless junk like robes, wands and other mostly mundane items that AEGIS had taken from their prisoners. There wasn’t anything truly anomalous in here. She retrieved her rifle and chemist’s equipment, leaving everything else alone for the most part. She didn’t know what anything in here did and she was content to leave it that way.

[Naval Monte]

Scourge of My People

"Well shit this plan fell apart as quickly as my last relationship with that mermaid."  Anton muttered as he hid behind a piece of concrete that blew off and landed on the ground on top of an unfortunate guard who hopefully was dead before having his body reduced to the consistency of scrambled eggs and the shape of a pancake.

As the siren looked at to see the murderous tribute to the Terminator living up to the title the siren thought on how best to eliminate the target with the items on his inventory, which is admittedly not enough for direct combat. "Shit, Nephthys better come up with something because I'm not sure what I can do." The siren saw Donaldbain being thrown to Sekhmet like a toy, crashing on to the doll. 

To the doll's credit she didn't immediately follow through her instincts of destroying Donaldbain's body as she would have done to most projectiles sent at her way, the man was a comrade and doing so would ge disrespectful. Yet, dodging wasn't an option as he was closing the distance too quickly, she would have to catch him. The doll opened her arms and when was close caught him, however the momentum caused her to be pushed back and stepping on a mossy patch of grass made the doll lose her grip on the ground, making her fall on to the ground.

The doll didn't show much discomfort on falling as she looked down at the man and the hole in his chest, the doll closed her eyes and began to recite a prayer in Egyptian for the man. The necromancer the doll was assigned to protect by an amulet used just as the fire magic descended from the heavens, something she was glad to have ad she would have been incinerated otherwise. The mage looked at their new opponent. The witch wasn't sure if her magic alone could work as she suspected him having thaumaturgical and possibly paratechnological countermeasures, a hypothesis that is supported by the use of both technology and thaumaturgy in the attack.

As she thought over which curse to use ad a test for her theory she saw Hex aim her pistol on the Matador. The Reaver will admit that hearing her code name being uttered by the man unnerved her at some level, him somehow knowing her didn't help out much. "Captain huh? I haven't been called that for a while. Looks like your information on me is spotty." She coldly stated as she was prepared to open fire on the cyborg on his head.

But before she can do so an explosion rocked the area as gunshots rang throughout the bsee and portals open throughout out the base with strange people coming through. It seems some people in her group know one of the strangers. However introduction will have to be on hold as they need to leave now. Hex sprint quickly to the closet portal while still firing a few shots at Therion before entering the rift. Sekhmet began to get up and picked up Donaldbain's body as she took ran to the portal with Anton and Nephthys following behind, the siren throwing a grenade at the man which will emit smoke once it landed while Nephthys would unleash the wrack curse from a crystal, a curse that would cause intense pain throughout his body while causing bleeding blisters to form on his hands and his eyes to cry out blood.

As the group enter the new reality they found the swelling humidity of the jungle replaced by a pleasant breeze of the sunset Fjord with a small village below. The smell of death and fire was replaced with the scent of the country, and if their own sweat. Their attention turned to the strange group before them. Sekhmet looked over to the group. "Where can I bury this man?" She asked. Nephthys on the other hand asked. "Who are you people and where are we?" She still felt tense from getting out of the chaotic jungle mission.

---

The Great Wizarding Rebellion

When Madi consumed the dust she would be hit by both a metallic and rancid aftertaste, one that even with her new ghoul biology would taste quite petrid. In fact, she might be on the verge of throwing up, a futile effort of her body trying to remove the dust. The dust was immediately bonding to her body once it was inside, traveling through her bloodstream and merging with her cells. 

Her eyes would begin to feel watery and itchy, so too would her skin infact. Madison cheek would also be blushing as she felt warm to the touch. Her body was having an immediate effect to the dust but so far they seem more of an inconvenience than anything too serious.

The group would go through the hall, hearing the battles and horrors going through the halls. Eventually they will see the door leading out of the base. Yet blocking the way was a massive creatures. Humanoid in build, it's body was a grayish white with shades of blue and purple. It's skin was moist as pulpy gray water trail down its lumpy, bloated body. The body smelled like a decaying corpse left to rot out on the beach which was heavily contaminated by an industrial waste site and sewer. The creature had no head, instead a gaping hole with metal tubes coming out of it and going through it's body was found. The creatures chest had a distorted human-like face, it's dead eyes looking at the group in an expression that almost seems to be pleading for them. 

The creature begins to walk towards them. Now armed with his spear Tenzma flew towards the creature and stabbed it on its chest while Yoshinori summoned a few cards to form a symbol similar to the pentagram as he chanted a spell. From the make shift magic circle a woman in a ehire and red kimono appeared. The woman had long white hair along with white fix tails and ears. When her eyes went to the group her eyes were yellow with black sclera.

To Ammy she would get some uncomfortable reminders of the kitsune she once fought against a long time ago. The smile she gave st the creature as she lunged at it with her claws didn't help with the comparison, so wide and revealing rows of sharp teeth.

The Beatles stand back along with the other creatures as the two yokais fought against the bloated, water log, corpse.

---

Seeds of Anxiety

Herbert shook his head. "No, if we kept you entirely inside doing paperwork that will be a waste of your talents. Unfortunately you can't escape paperwork despite the best efforts of some agents and researchers, but you will be allowed to assist in field ops. In fact..." he paused for dramatic effect. The group would pass homes bearing the medieval half timber style with others being gray stone terrace homes and tenement buildings during the pause. "You will have the option of having your own team to lead." He explained. 

"Normally this wouldn't be done but I'm afraid for this site things are dire for it. We are even trying to get people from the Union to bring in members to assist us." He told the two. "The site director and his assistant will help you two on adjusting to your new roles." He looked out the window to see a large clocktower standing out, though not as much as the smaller replica of Big Ben that was next to the town hall.. "I can see the building now." He told the two.

The cab would soon stop in front of the building. As the two got off they would be greeted by a five storey building with a grand archway on the front door.

The balcony was made of granite with black iron fences with a few parts having circular tower like protrusions, many on the edge points to the sides. The clock tower was built on to the building itself to increase its height. The roof was red and made with the titles in the mansard style with the edge overhanging., below the main roof were smaller gable roofs on top of the balconies on the fifth floor. Twin chimney stacks can be seen from the roof as well with plumes of smoke coming out. The building gave a gothic feel of Victorians architecture but the grandiose of the Edwardian style.

They would see hanging from an iron post a wooden sign with the painting of three ravens flying towards a pyramid with an eye.  Herbert walked forward to ge in front of the two "This is your new home." He announced. "This building services as a hotel as its cover story. But make no mistake you two will be helping is on dealing with important matters." 

At the other side of town the younger officer looked at the badge. "Why is a fed agent doing in this town?" He asked her. He looked over to his parent who was done with talking with the old man. "Fine I won't cuff you. But I still need you to come with us so we can take you to the station for some questions on what happened here. After that you can go to the embassy. Besides, you need our help to go through this town." He told her.

[Demincia]

Seeds of Anxiety
Lludw Cigfrain, Cymru
Rosanna Dawson

Dawson shrugged apologetically as she followed the man. "I'm afraid I can't really tell you other than it's an ongoing investigation. I hate to step on toes, but Congress saw it necessary to authorize the FBI work internationally even if it should be up to local jurisdiction. It's why there's an FBI office in London, and that's gonna have to be where all of your important questions are funneled through. I'm just stuck doing the legwork, same as you." Hopefully she wouldn't fly back stateside immediately, and she could get a night's sleep either in a hotel or a Bureau safehouse.

[The Japanese Americans]

-snip-

"Is that a blemmye? Or was it one before this happened to it?" Oh well, it was attacking, so it needed to be killed. Suddenly, he felt itchy all over. His legs, his arms, his scalp, even his eyes. Even worse, his eyes had started watering and he felt hot. What the hell kind of Status Effect was this?! He couldn't focus on that right now, he was in the middle of a fight! Lee drew his katanas and prepared to leap forward when he remembered that he had telekinesis. He let go of one katana and grabbed it with his telekinesis. He lifted it and threw it with all the force he could muster at the blemmye, mainly because his reach with telekinesis couldn't go that far yet. He had aimed for its center mass, so it would definitely hit it.

---

As the Japanese weapon stabbed into the creature's stomach got a splash of gray water spilled out. The creature didn't react much to the attack. The kitsune would grab the sword and cut upwards, being pushed to the ground as a torrent of water hit her. Organs and pieces of machines woukd also spill out. "What is this thing?" Tenzma muttered. The creature would lunge at the tengu but he would block it with his spear.

---

Seeing the inside of it almost made Lee puke. What the fuck was going on?! Ugh, he would just have to settle further into his battle mindset. He closed his eyes for a breif moment and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and found all of his nausea gone. Good. Now, reviewing what he'd seen, it was likely they would have to disable the machines inside it, drain all the water out of it, or slice it into tiny bits. "Tiny bits, then." He shifted his remaining katana into a two-handed grip. He started running towards it at maximum speed with his katana to the side. He ran right along its side, dragging his blade through its flesh. He stopped about 2 meters behind it and quickly turned around to see what he had done.

---

The attack left large cuts to its flesh and caused more gray water to be spilled on the hallway but the creature was still standing. Tenzma would punch it it on the chest face. "That katana is in good condition to make a cut that cleanly." He let a feral smile form. "Yes. Perhaps you should use it to slice its limbs instead so we can quickly leave this place." He suggested before jumping back as it sent out several pipes like tenticales to crush him.

---

Slice its limbs? Actually, it kinda made sense in this screwed up world, since that would screw them up. He lifted his sword again and looked at its knees. Or, rather, the back of them. Perfect. He lifted his katana again. And started running at maximum speed again. He cut cleanly through both knees. From what he was learning, that should be able to immobilize it. He jumped, turned around in midair, and stopped his momentum using his telekinesis. He was actually using it more and more instinctively.

---

The creature fell once it's legs were severed, however it was now crawling towards the others with its arms, leaving a trail of water and blood.

---

Lee resigned to throw up later, after this battle. Wanting to try something he had once read about, he located the nub that was his physical energy. He funneled it into his arms, into his hands, into his sword. It started giving off a blue glow from the amount that was being poured into it. A new screen popped up, informing him that he had created a new Skill. Weapon Charge. Interesting, but he was busy. He walked up to the thing's side. And in the blink of an eye, he cut horizontally. Normally, this would just cut what he had cut, but since he had infused his energy into it, a blade of energy had been flung off his sword. It had cut the whole thing in half instead. Another screen popped up saying that he had created a new Skill. Energy Slash. Good. And hopefully it had killed it. And then he would get more exp.

---

The creature would be sliced in half and just as Lee hoped it would due after making a desperate grasp for the group.

---

"Well, that's that." He looked to the side as three new screens popped up saying he had leveled up. Three whole new levels. He tapped on one and instantly dumped all 15 points into his Int. He felt his various energies grow once moreThe creature would be sliced in half and just as Lee hoped it would due after making a desperate grasp for the group. He seathed his sword before walking over to the kitsune. "May I please have my sword back now?"

---

The kitsune hissed at him as she brought out one of her claws at him whoke moving the sword away from him. "Return it back now." Yoshinori ordered. The kitsune hissed but reluctantly return the sword back to Lee.

---

He eyed the kitsune for a moment before sheathing his other sword. "Thank you." He turned and started walking towards the door.

---

"You better be careful human. If you die your precious sword will be easy for the taking." The kitsune would give Lee a wide smile, bearing her fangs as she gave him the looks of a predator eyeing her prey. The Inugami sighed. "Don't worry, I have her under my control. She won't do anything to you. But if you do die we will have to use your weapons and equipment to help us escape."

---

"Understandable. But don't worry, I won't die easily. Not when my body still obeys the laws of my world." He opened the door and walked right out.

---

"For now. But believe me there are things that defy rules or exploit rules. Don't become reliant on that shield." Yoshinori warned before walking to the door.

[Rostavykhan]

The Great Wizarding Rebellion
Miria

"Madi, what the hell?"

Miria was absolutely dumbfounded by her friend's actions. Did she seriously just consume something from a clearly magical vial that she found, without knowing what the contents even were? She had to do a double take just to make sure that she was seeing things right, in case she needed to clean her glasses, but no - she'd consumed the mystery substance without any hesitation.

"Seriously, what the hell!?", She repeated, her fingers twitching. "That can't be healthy! Didn't you take chemistry in school? It can't be a good idea to drink that stuff! Do you even know what it is?", She asked, as she began to wave her hands in the air. "What about the whole turning into monsters thing? Did you just have that happen on a whim, too? Geeze!"

She...really didn't understand Madi's logic. It wasn't logical! Not to her. It bothered her to a great degree, and seemed incredibly illogical, in fact. It downright scared her! It made her want to started mumbling and whining again, as the mere thought of downing something they found in an AEGIS vault sent her into a near panic attack, and she wasn't even the one to do it! She had half a mind to pounce at Madi at that moment, just to knock some sense into her, but -

Monster.

Miria stopped yelling at Madi, instead screaming and stumbling back, almost tripping. She placed the dragonfly in her arms on her shoulder with one of it's friends, and reached for her dagger. Red light gleamed off of the blade, arcane energy reacting with the stone, the shiv twirling around her fingers before finally coming to rest in her hand. Miria felt sick, staring at the thing, but she wouldn't be so hesitant as last time to fight. With all of them fighting the thing, it would be a peace of cake to beat it! In fact, it was apparently so easy, that they really...didn't all...need to fight it. The haunting image of the creature lurching toward them was followed by its quick, violent demise at the hands of their new comrades, who made very quick work of the beast. Miria didn't even need to lift a finger. Well. At least that was over quickly. It made her a little sick, seeing the thing dragging itself at them; did it want to die? They'd need to kill it now anyways, not that Miria had many reservations at this point. So long as they got out of the bunker, anything they did to expedite that process was welcome to her.

The small girl closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath. She let out a sigh of relief and moved to put her dagger away again, but something stopped her. The blade was still glowing; how? What the creature they'd attacked been magical? She didn't know, since she'd just gotten the tool back. She couldn't know for sure if it was the creature, or something else, unless...

She heard a noise, a low grunt, followed by wet plopping, and looked down to see the dismembered beast grabbing her ankle. Miria screamed again and fell back, the bugs shaking side to side on her backpack. Instinctively, she slammed her dagger down into the being's arms, only to hear the clack of stone on stone, her shiv bouncing off of the concrete floor. Miria blinked, and found that the monster was gone, still several feet away. It had vanished just as quickly as she'd seen it appear. Her voice caught in her throat. Miria could feel a cold shiver work its way down her entire body, the icy sensation numbing her, and then beginning to warm up as it neared her toes. Her fingers began to burn, and then her neck, and face. Miria didn't get it; why? What was going on? She grabbed her dagger again, disturbed to see it still glowing, brighter than before. Without thinking, she thrust it towards the Blenmye, but nothing changed. She began to hold it above her, and to her sides, and out towards the rest of the group, and still, nothing changed. She didn't have the patience to look for her tablet, as her entire body began to itch and burn, her limbs jerking suddenly in response. Her dagger waved about faster and faster, still glowing just as bright as it had been since Madi opened that vial...

That vial. The dust. Miria knew it was bad news! She began to whine again, her entire body aching, like she was on fire. Without thinking, she began to hiss and scoot back towards the wall, her dagger falling from her hand beside her. She'd pick it up in a moment, she told herself, beginning to scratch her arms and neck vigorously, tugging her scarf up to her nose.

[Menschenfleisch]

Seeds of Anxiety | Avarice and Tone

”A team of my own? If I’m not mistaken, your organisation’s never put me in a position of authority, and I’ve never been keen to work in an MST. I’m not certain whether leading a team would be the best use of my time.” Avarice gently nudged his side with her elbow, smirking a little. She was almost too good at being human now. Her emotions, her facial expressions and her personality were all perfect. He didn’t know why, but seeing how she blurred the boundaries between herself and humans unsettled Valerian, perhaps because he knew that soon, he wouldn’t be able to differentiate between Avarice and a random person on the street whatsoever. If she wanted to, she could change her appearance and seamlessly blend into any society that she wanted to. He knew that it was kind of stupid to worry about that when Avarice could also just eat the planet out from under his feet, but he couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of anxiety. ”Oh, come on. New experiences are the food of the soul! You’re not gonna wuss out on us, are ya?” He knew that he should respond with the same kind of friendly rapport but he just couldn’t bring himself to treat Avarice like a friend, or even an acquaintance. He felt obliged to keep his distance, considering how long he had spent trying to hunt her down. His hatred for her had long disappeared but it still echoed inside his head sometimes, reminding him of the loathing that he’d been a host to. He couldn’t just forgive her for what she’d done… right? ”I’m under no obligation to stay here.” His words were measured, diplomatic, refined: utterly impersonal. Ava pouted and crossed her arms yet seemingly assented and leaned back in her chair. Valerian knew that she was manipulating him and she definitely knew that he knew she was playing him - and yet, he conceded nonetheless. ”... Fine. I’ll see what’s going on and I’ll make a decision once I’ve got a handle on the situation. Does that work for you?” Ava smiled broadly and smugly. She looked like a child who’d just won an argument with their parent and was glutting themselves on the feeling of superiority that came right afterward. ”It does.” God, they had a really fucking weird relationship, didn’t they?

Avarice was the first one out of the car, having set foot on the asphalt before the cab had even parked. Valerian took a more leisurely approach, deciding to exit in a prim and proper fashion. The young concept was filled with boundless energy, and she skipped right up to the front door of the hotel, looking upward at it like a child trying to see the peak of a mountain shrouded in the clouds. ”Wow, would you look at that? This whole building is just brimming with abject terror!” Valerian looked to her for an explanation rather than Herbert, knowing that the obvious answers were rarely the correct ones when dealing with Ava. He knew he didn’t need to pose the question: to her, his intentions were as transparent as water in a plain glass. ”They’re all so afraid of being attacked again. Hardly anyone survived the destruction of the last site. I suppose fear can be contagious, huh?” Valerian addressed Herbert with his next question, wanting to hear the man’s opinion rather than Avarice’s objective assessment of the situation. ”These people: are they just cannon fodder? From what I can tell, I’m here to soften up the town in preparation for the arrival of AEGIS’ best. That’s why they’re employing an anomaly to do the job and not a site director, right? Because I’m disposable?”

Seeds of Anxiety | ???

Winter wore a crooked grin and a heavy scarf at all times, the latter in order to conceal the former. She was vast and terrible by the standards of men, for her ambitions and thoughts were larger and grander than the environment which she willingly enveloped herself in. She was like a titan trying to live the life of a rabbit, never once revealing her true intellect and power yet letting everyone around her know that she possessed them nonetheless. Her thoughts and dreams were saturated with lavender, a colour that spoke to her and which provided strange yet vital omens in times of crisis. It gave her a sort of… intuition, she supposed. She brushed a lock of hair from her face and revealed an eye as wide and round as a pocket-watch. Her irises were a shade of red as raw and as savage as a bleeding wound. She laid her fingers on the windowsill of her office and looked out upon the crucible of cultures that was Morriston. She’d decided to set up shop in Chinatown for entirely sentimental reasons; she often enjoyed a bowl of crispy lo mein with marble eggs at the store opposite her establishment (although she never went without a pair of fake glasses, in case the store realised that the competition was dining at their place). In her line of work sentiment was often a prelude to failure and abject poverty. However, she had not yet been punished for indulging in such feelings yet. It remained to be seen whether she’d be punished at all.

Speaking of punishments, where was her tea? She ran a restaurant and yet her own waitstaff were tardy to serve her a simple drink? Unfathomable. She turned toward the door into her studio right as it swung open and a young maiden, dressed in rose-patterned robes and with her hair done up in a bun, mosied her way in. “Ms. Winter.” The girl held out the jade-lined platter upon which rested a little porcelain cup brimming with purple water, the surface of which emitted thin wisps of steam. She knelt down and bowed her head in supplication, holding the tray up high. “You’re late,” she chastised. The girl’s shoulders tensed imperceptibly and for a moment it seemed as if she wanted to speak. “Rebellious, too.” The girl tried to shrink from her gaze but Winter raised her index finger and caused the girl’s head to lift up and freeze. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It won’t happen again.” Her voice was just polite enough to come off as professional while being apologetic enough so as to not seem cold. She lowered the tray and laid it on the ground gently, barely suppressing a tremor in her fingers. “I know you’ll do your best.” Winter murmured. “Lin, I know you’d never give this job anything but your best. You did nothing wrong.” The girl took in a sharp breath and began to babble, “Thank you, m-” before her mouth slammed shut and disappeared. Lin’s whole body began to dissociate: it shimmered like setting glass and massive billows of colour, somewhat like paint stains, began to bleed from her skin. Her face, save her eyes, dissolved into a kaleidoscopic array of mingled pigments, each striving for dominance over the others. The girl’s eyes shivered and stared, unable to look away. “So if it wasn’t a failing of your personality or your meticulousness, then what was it that caused the delay?” Winter waved her hand and a mouth briefly coalesced in the air beside Lin’s head. It was as blue as an elderberry and lush with shades of purple: it visibly popped out in contrast with her surroundings. “I-it was a customer, he grabbed my shoulder and asked for directions-” Her mouth burst into a maelstrom of indigo and disappeared once more.

“So it must have been your face. If you’d been uglier, he wouldn’t have troubled you. If you’d been more beautiful, he would have found what he was looking for on his own, since he would have been too nervous to talk to you. So Lin: would you rather look better or worse?” The girl spoke from a dozen different angles and a dozen different mouths, each of which had a different colour and a different structure. Yellow mouths were bright and jubilant, red mouths were fiery and angry, green mouths were slurred and sickly, et cetera. They all came to the same consensus nonetheless. “Uglier! Give me back my old face, the one I had when I-” The girl’s face twisted and broke. Her bones did not shatter but rather they melted as her skull rearranged itself. “You smarmy little girl,” Winter snapped. “Haven’t I told you before that you can never get it back? Even if I were to try to give you the face and the body you once had, I wouldn’t be able to replicate them perfectly; that is the nature of faces. You would look like an uncanny impostor, or worse, utterly monstrous.” The girl’s body trembled and swam. It looked as if eels were writhing under her skin. Blotches of ink migrated across her body, changing the tone of her skin, hair and eyes. Her uniform, too, continually rearranged itself; it melted and reformed as fluidly as candle wax. “You asked to be changed when you arrived here. You paid the price and signed the contract out of your own free will. I will not assist you in correcting your own bad decisions.” Finally, like many different beams of light coming together to form a new uniform colour, the girl snapped into focus. She was a pyre of flesh. Her hands and arms were attached to her chest by folds of skin and her legs had been folded up into useless stumps. Roots sprouted from those stumps and dug into the floorboards, anchoring her in one place. Her face was featureless save for three nostrils - arranged like the holes on a bowling ball - in its centre. She could not speak nor move, only wriggle and breathe, with her nostrils barely permitting enough air to stay conscious. A single meaty stalk extended from her forehead and dangled an eye in front of her: her own eye, positioned so as to look at her own now horrifying body. “You were ugly, but I made you beautiful. I made you worth other peoples’ time and attention. Your insubordination, however, tells me that you have forgotten what it felt like to be that way: how it felt to be hideous. I’ll leave you here until you remember to be grateful for what you’ve got.”

The Great Wizarding Rebellion | Kiara and Polly

Kiara quite nearly exploded at Madi’s apparent lack of discretion. Could she not see that they were in the heart of danger here? Did she not care about herself nor the people accompanying her? Snorting that dust made about as much sense as eating dirt, and yet Madison had done it without a second thought. Did she know something that the rest of the group didn’t? Judging by Miria’s reaction, it was unlikely. Miria had known Madi longer than anyone else on the ‘team’ and if she was flipping out, then there was almost certainly a good reason to do so. She held her sleeve over her mouth as she approached the now empty vial and the ghoul alongside it. “What was that?” She queried, not expecting an answer - or at least, not expecting a useful one. She wouldn’t be surprised if nobody in the room knew exactly what the dust did or what its purpose was. If Kiara had been one of them she would’ve booked it out of the room as soon as Madi had opened the vial, since for all she knew it could be the most lethal poison on the planet. Her bravado was informed by the fact that her body was fortified against nearly all toxins; if there was anyone in the group who could breathe that stuff without harm, then it would have to be Kiara. “Mind handing that over?” She didn’t want for Madi’s response. She simply took the vial and put the lid back on, doing her best to avoid coming into contact with the ghoul’s saliva. While it was true that she needn’t have worried about cleanliness - she could probably wallow in incontinent cow shit with a dozen open wounds and still not get an infection - it was simply good practice to avoid unnecessary cross contamination. She considered the black dust for a moment, wondering whether it would do her any good to analyze the remnants of the vial’s contents. Perhaps if the group’s members started dropping dead, she could even engineer a cure for its effects. She didn’t exactly specialize in biochemistry but she wasn’t bad at it either, speaking from the perspective of a Kalmite. By the standards of human scientists, she could rival a PhD holder for knowledge in the field.

Their egress from the site was not without further incidents, however. A vast beast attempted to arrest their escape, though Kiara couldn’t tell whether its actions were informed by malice or by plain instinct. She knew that the creature’s body wanted to die, but she also understood that there had to be a different entity - another hidden consciousness - forcing it to act against them in spite of its own desire for death. Attacking the beast’s body would be futile: it would be much easier to kill the mind that was compelling it to attack them. To that end, it should’ve been very easy for her to achieve. A single drop of her blood could probably stop the monster in its tracks and incapacitate it, if not cripple it outright. However, again, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The thought of harming others caused her stomach to sink: she didn’t even eat meat. She needn’t have worried, however. The monster was dead before she could act, and then she… wait, what was that strange smell? There was a lingering aroma in the air, as twisted and as sharp as lemon juice. It was acidic and violent, and it seemed to tear at the flesh on the interior of her nose. It reminded her of blood: not human blood, but Kalmite blood. It wasn’t the only source of the smell, however. She realised that her wrist reeked of much the same scent and as soon as she realised that she could smell her own blood she yelped and put a hand to her arm. Cracks began to spread along her macrodermis, beginning at her fingertips and progressing toward her elbow. And it wasn't limited to just that spot, either. Her cheeks, throat and the interior of her mouth all began to split open and weep blood. She ripped off her jacket and bound it tightly around her arm in an attempt to keep anyone else from seeing it before pulling out her tin of foundation and smearing it over her wounds. In the middle of doing that she retched and, thinking quickly, put a hand over her mouth as she spat out a cloud of black and blue mist formed from blood intermingled with the remnants of the dust that Madi had ingested. Her body had violently rejected it, having found it to be harmful to herself not just on a physiological level but a conceptual one as well. The stuff that she spat up was utterly inert, with its essence having been overwhelmed and incinerated by the sheer conceptual pressure of her blood. She did her best to keep the blood from showing and stood up, sticking with the rest of the group as they progressed further. She was waiting to see Skye: surely they should’ve been reunited by now, considering how close they were to the end of the story’s current segment.

[The Japanese Americans]

TGWR
Lee
An AEGIS Base

Lee winced as a flash of immense pain struck his body. He was brought to his knees from the force of it. "Status Screen." A window popped up describing his general condition... and he was losing HP. What was even causing this? Wait, the Status Effect... oh shit. It said that the system had encountered an error. The first time this message had popped up for anyone in Lee's world was when the Expansion happened. Fourteen of the strongest magic users had gathered to perform a wide-range cleansing ritual. Something went wrong then, and the world's surface area increased threefold. Now this had shown up, and what did that mean for his body? Lee felt his fear harden in his gut. "Shit. Shit." All he could do now was push through the pain, and hope he didn't run out of HP beforehand. He shakily got up before confidently walking ahead once more.

[Naval Monte]

Secrets of the Raven

The witch rolled her eyes as Jackie said that she would steal away any romantic interests Elizabeth might pursue. "Whatever makes you feel better, Flapjack." The witch lean slightly on her left leg as she placed her hand on her left hip as Jackie went to explain on what she encountered in the tunnel, at least not without some trouble of remembering the name of the creatures initially.

Her eyebrows furrowed when Jackie finally got the name right and gave a short description of the creatures. The occultists took a deep breath and sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Zeloths. It had to be bloody Zeloths." The witch almost hissed out their names in irritation. "I'm gonna guess one of my summon saved you from them because I can't find Bonzy Buddies spooky cousin anywhere." Elizabeth looked back at the tunnels to see if maybe her missing summon will come out, so far she saw no hint of the otherworldly primate.

When Jackie mention on a two headed throwing rocks that got Elizabeth's attention. "Really? You saw a creature that looked like a two headed baby. What else did see about it and which tunnel did you find it? You think we can find it again? " The witch asked with a slightly giddy tone, almost excited to know about the strange creature in the tunnel. "I made my decision." The deep and booming voice of Berith would startled the witch, her eyes widening and nearly jumping as she made a meek sound in surprise. 

The dark mage would soon blush when she realized what she did in front of the self proclaimed chadete and the demon lord as she straightened the collar of her coat as she turned to face the demon lord, praying it can't see her blushing cheeks, a hope that was in vain but she was lucky that Berith didn't care for that. "So, are you going to join us or are you going to retreat back to your domain?" She asked, ignoring the snickers of demons who saw her reaction.

"I will join your quest to rid of the Crimsonites menace. As you said, we both benefit greatly if they are stopped and I wish to get revenge for being enslaved by their infernalist." He explained to the witch. Elizabeth grin as she heard the news. "Cheers mate, welcome to the team mate. You are now an honorary, though temporary, member of the Ashwood Investigation and Detective Service." She placed her right hand on her chest as she puffed her chest, giving him a prideful smile at her agency.

The demon lord was silent. "I'm with AIDS now?" Berith bluntly stated. The smile faded as she was at first confused but quickly realized what the name spell out when just using the initials. As her blush return back with a vengeance she can hear the Desprayes and worst, Mai and Wei and a few others in the team, all laughing at the unfortunate name of her agency. While Mai and Richard was in utter hysterics over the unfortunate naming others like Theodore and Wei were more reserved as she tried to keep some composer. Metis looked confused by why people were laughing at the name of a sexually transmitted disease?

Elizabeth hid her face with her coat collar as the laughter continued. "Th.. the name is still pending." She meekly stuttered, failing to maintain her cool attitude with how embarrassed she feels now. Berith was mercifully for the witch not in the group not laughing, bloody hell even Terry is laughing at her. The demon lord would simply say. "I will join your group us but please change the name. I rather not be known as the lord of AIDS." The laughter grew louder as Elizabeth's cheeks turn a darker shade of red. The laughter mask the muffled whimper she made.

"Jackie lead us to the tunnel you came from please. I want this hell to be over." The witch pleaded as she refused to look at her. She muttered something about high school flashbacks.

---

Seeds of Anxiety

"It could be the people inside are afraid for their lives. But the buildings history and its alleged hauntings don't help." Herbert said in a way like it was normal. "We didn't make it as so much brought it from the town and converted to our facility, that unfortunately means those within are stuck with the baggage that comes from residing in an old building, both the mundane and anomalous drawbacks. But rest assured, we upgraded the building with the most modern amenities so you won't actually have to live like you are in the 19th and early 20th century." The liaison assured them.

When Valerian asked if everyone inside was the cannon fodder and he was leading them the man sighed, his posture sagging as bags seem to appear in his tired eyes. "I won't lie to you Valerian, they are. But even the best people are cannon fodders if it means humanity is safe. You have to understand that with this organization not only is the broly dilemma a constant reality but most will be forced to sacrifice ten to save a hundred, or a hundred to save a thousand. If we have to sacrifice our own to save humanity we might if they can't be saved. This is not including that death is pretty high in our occupation, with mental burnout being much higher." He explained as the cab drove off.

"We will take care of our own and we will do our best to save our own, but if the choice ever came to ensure the continual existence of humanity and the mechanism of the Imperative some lives will be sacrificed. Not even Reavers, Oracles, and Overseers are spared if they deaths are required." The man snorted. "It's the law of equivalent exchange  as most folk in the secret world say."

Herbet let out a forced chuckle, it was tinged with bitterness that told of dissatisfaction of the state of affairs that AEGIS was stuck on but knew he couldn't change the system, not without being crushed by it's ever turning, rust choked, gears to lubricate the machine that was the Imperative. Quenching it's blood lust as it feeds on people's misery, sanity, and life force.

He would let out another drawn out sigh. "But I'm throwing worthless pawns under your care. Sure, they aren't Reavers nor elite soldiers, or super genius, or suave super spies. But they are good at their job. A few are new but trust me we make sure that even our new recruits have the potential for greatness, you just have to cultivate and nurture it Valerian." He gave him a small smile. "But you can still call in more people if you need too." 

He turned his back to him. "Also the site director is present in the town but we can't have them be in the building yet, security reasons." He would gesture them to follow them. "Let's take a good look of your new gone now shall we." He told them as he lead them inside the hotel.

The younger cop nodded as he seem to agree to what Dawnson told him. "I bet MI-5 wasn't all too happy to about you guys stepping on their turf, huh?" He said to her as she gave him a smile. As they walked outside  the sunset sky was now showing a dark blue with shades of yellow and orange of the sun's light mix with purple of the encroaching night. Dawnson can see white dots shining on the sky. Even with the electric lights in the town the light of stars shine brightly as though they were in the country.

"I forgot, you can call me Denton, James Corbitt Denton, or just J.C." the man said to her as they went to his car, opening it for her. She would see the older cop dragging the burglar to the car as well

---

The Great Wizarding Rebellion

As the group began to feel ill while entering the courtyard the smell of charred bodies, burnt metal, and petroleum would hit them. Throughout the courtyard they would see dead bodies strewn about, many burned and sliced into pieces. They would see the burn out, twisted, hulks that were once armoured fighting vehicles and attack helicopters. The ground should shake as heavy thuds can be heard as something was stomping towards them.

From the fires they saw a giant going through the flames with no problem. The creature had gray skin from the upper half, the lower half was covered in black hair. The creature had a muscular human torso with a human-like arm and arms. However the face was that of man, but contorted into vicious rage as long fangs can be seen jutting out of his mouth like tusks. Multiple long curved horns can be seen from the back and on both the back and on top of his head as well as long messy black hair.

However, his legs were similar to that of a goat with a tail behind him, even the horns resembled those of a goat. His elbows had large spikes growing from them. The satyr would have the same stench as the deer demon. The demon's eyes glow like burning coal as he stared at the group.

His pushed up nose began to whiff something. His eyes widen in surprise before a feral smile stretched from his face, stretching from ear to ear. "You all brought about the dust for me. I should for grateful for you all for making my search so much easier." The demon would would summon a massive Double-Edged Sword from a miniature rift, pointing one of the blades at the group. "But two of you have it more within you. Hand them to me and I will you all leave with your lives." 

Tenzma and Yoshinori stepped forward to keep the demon from seeing the others. "You are the most foolish ghoul I ever had the displeasure of knowing." Tenzma lambasted. "That dust wasn't just dust. That was the remains of a Nepharite, a powerful entity from the same realm that demon belongs in." The tengu told Madison. 

"It seems to either want the dust to get the Nepharite's powers or it wants to revive it. Either way,  we must not allow him to have either you or the elf." Yoshinori joined in. The Inugami would summon the kitsune again as well a massive stone wall with limbs and a large eye.

Just as the tension in the courtyard was growing a fiery rift emerge. Stepping through eas a hunchback figure wearing a long robe made of human skin with bones arranged as both jewelry and armor. The creature had a goat's skull for a head with many small pieces hanging from strings tied on deer-like antlers. While one arm held to a wooden staff, another held to a large butcher knife. Two larger arms were attached to the demon's shoulders. These were not gray, wrinkly, ancient flesh. The arms were pale, feminine, but altered to be much more muscular and larger than normal. The veins were bulging out grotesquely, muscles twitched, nails more like elongated knife blades. 

From its back was a skeleton attached to it, the skull turning to face the group, looking at Kiara in particular. Behind the old demon another familiar one began to emerge.

The creature was once seven foot but now it was 15 foot like the Satyr with a black skinless (or translucent skin) that shows off its black muscles and veins. The creature has hair on it's shoulders, and parts of chest and back. It's head was similar to the skull of a deer but the antlers were absent, replaced by two forward facing curved horns. It has tentacles growing from the forearms metal spikes growing from it's back along with a scaly alligator tail with metal spikes on top with patch of black hair at the base surrounding the spikes. On the left arm multiple smaller arms have grown from the bicep and the tentacles on the right forearms now have boney spear points at the ends.

The deer demon looked at Madison and look the satyr it smelled the dust. The creature let out a roar as the satyr began to charge at them with Tenmza flying towards the demon with his spear while Yoshinori conjure a barrier to deflect a large fireball from the demonic sorcerer that was with the deer.

[Demincia]

Seeds of Anxiety
Lludw Cigfrain, Cymru
Rosanna Dawson

Rosanna just nodded sympathetically. "You know how it goes, can't let anything get done without American intervention." she said. She really wanted this cop to just shut and get on with it, but she was happy to play victim as long as it took for her to get back to work. "Dawson. Rosanna Dawson." she said after he introduced himself. "Don't tell me I have to ride in back with him." she said seeing the would-be robber brought to the car. "He did threaten me with a machete."

---

Secrets of the Raven
Devil's Pit Mine
Dawn & Celeste Elissa

Dawn looked down at Elizabeth almost quizzically. "Why are you asking me? Clearly I wasn't the one that sent her away. You'd have to speak with my dear sister about that." She nodded her head over to Celeste, who was currently standing against the wall eyeing the group with equal parts distrust and dislike.

"Don't tell me you're afraid to talk to her? Maybe it's because you think she still remembers that time you called her a spatial bitch behind her back and tried to lie your way out of it?" Dawn leaned against her scythe nonchalantly and inspected her fingernails. "Surely she wouldn't take it out on your mother, it's not like anyone said she was abrasive and hot-headed or anything." She cracked a very faint smile, as if she was actually enjoying the psychological suffering she was causing.

"Perhaps a more fitting name would be Ashwood Supernatural Squad Helping Out Lucrative Employer's Squabbles. You could call yourselves ASSHOLES." She glanced over to her twin. "I'd suggest you get a move on if you want your mother freed from whatever prison she's currently in. You know how Celeste feels about humans, who knows what kind of torture she's enduring right now."

[Naval Monte]

Seeds of Anxiety
Lludw Cigfrain, Cymru

Denton shrugged. "The guy is cuffed and we took his machete, he can't hurt you even if he wants too. But if you want, you can sit on the front with me so you can feel safe. My partner can sit with the prep as Americans call them." The older cop heard what Denton told Dawson.

"What the hell Denton? Why should I sit next to the guy?" The older officer growled as the prep tried to break free from the cop. "Well let's see, you have a vice grip like a constrictor to hold on to our burglar and I'm the more sociable one out of us. Besides I'm better at driving too." The older cop snorted. "That's debatable. But fine, you can drive. Just tried not to flirt with the girl will you." The older cop open the door and shoved the other man inside.

Denton looked at his partner with mock surprise. "Do you really think I would flirt on the job Dowell?" The older cop gave his younger partner a blank look. "Yes." He bluntly stated before he got in the car. Denton shook his head. "Jeez, thanks for thinking I'm a slacker Dowell." He ignored his partner shouting out that he was.

"Well let's be on our way." He told Dawson as he opened the door to the driver seat and got on. Once the werewolf was inside the detective would begin to drive away from the star. As they drive through the town Dawson saw more signs that she was truly away from the states as Europeans style buildings from centuries past went passed her window. "So Dawson." Denton asked as he stopped in front of a red light.

"What made you want to come to Wales? I mean as far as cases guys Wales doesn't offer much excitement like London." He asked as the light changed and he was allowed to drive again.

---

Secrets of the Raven
Devil's Pit Mine

"I think the goddess is on to something with that name. I think you should adopt it Ashwood." Wei was heard saying as others began to laugh at Dawn's suggestion. Elizabeth was hiding her face more from everyone, anyone close to her could almost hear her growling in rage over the mocking she was receiving.

Of course being told to speak to Celeste on getting her mom sounded so easy... if she didn't insult her that one time and knew the goddess had a vicious mean streak and hated everything about humanity. There is a good chance she might have thought of killing them a couple of times.

No, she rather get everyone moving so Celeste can release her mother. "Dawn, heal everyone whose healing do we aren't waiting forever for them. Jackie, please lead the way because I got the feeling the tunnel you picked was the right one."

The demon lord would combust into flames, the fires going down to the ground. From the flames the demon came out in a more humanoid form. He still wore his armor but on his back was a cape. The skull was now on top of his neck and was styled like a helmet. Berith now had legs but chains can still be seen hanging off him. 

"I agree with the outsider. I rather get moving to dispense my rightful retribution on those miserable sorcerers and deluded fools." He told the group as he walked to his horse and hot on top of it to ride it. 

[Demincia]

Seeds of Anxiety
Lludw Cigfrain, Cymru
Rosanna Dawson

Rosanna pretended she didn't hear the two men arguing about flirting and just flashed a friendly smile back. It was too easy, it should have been a crime to manipulate people like this. She sat in the car, still slightly bothered by being on the left instead of the right as a passenger. "I didn't exactly pick Wales, I just got told where to go. I don't have too much say in the matter. You'd have to ask the London office why, but I imagine they won't tell you anything and claim 'National Security'."

She leaned back in the seat and put her hands behind her hand. "I wouldn't take it personally though, just be glad it's only the Bureau and not the CIA. Then you, your partner, your friend back there and the store clerk would have disappeared mysteriously and made headlines in tomorrow's Missing Person's pages."

---

Secrets of the Raven
Devil's Pit Mine
Dawn & Celeste Elissa

Dawn stopped looking nonchalant and stared straight down at Liz when she gave the goddess an order. "You've gotten as much assistance from me as you're going to get for now. If you're so concerned about injuries slowing you down, you should have brought a doctor." She glanced at the injured members of the party. "Unless you want me to take her arm back off in return for fixing her legs." Her scythe burned up in a burst of flame and disappeared entirely, leaving her standing on her own. "And since I doubt you're willing to make that trade, then this is an experience of poor planning, isn't it?"

[Skylus]

The Great Wizarding Rebellion
AEGIS Base, unknown location

Madi wasn't exactly sure what was going on. She only really knew that she hadn't felt at all well ever since she had downed the dust and she was beginning to regret doing so. She also felt guilty that everyone else was having some sort of reaction to said dust and she simply wanted to apologize, however, right now she was merely focused on walking in a straight line. As the witch walked down the corridor she held up a hand and burnt the now dead creature to ashes, eyeing the remains for a second before continue to walk towards the door in front of her. Behind her, Madi could hear the others trying to figure out what illness they now had, and that they all had various symptoms. Not too surprisingly, those that had been the farthest back were the least affected, while those at the front were the most affected.

Madi eventually figured out where everyone had been when the vial had been opened: the Beatle wanna-bes, the two kids, the mermaid and her friend, Bilbo, Ganondorf, and the slightly older Hero had been in the very back, Ammy, Po, Lee, Doug, Miria, and Kiria had been in the middle, and...

“Possibly stupid question, are you okay?”

Her friend, one she liked to consider to be a young sibling, focused his gaze on her.

“I’ll live.”

Before Madi could respond, Doug walked up and offered to ‘check things out’, to which she agreed.

---

Courtyard

Thankfully, Doug was the first one outside, and thus he was the first one to get a good glimpse at what awaited the group. "...Well...Hate to say it, but I've seen worse..."

He let everyone step into the courtyard before he took out the Slate and opened a communications channel.”

“You can decloak now.”

He got a response. “Decloaking.”

A moment later, something massive appeared in the courtyard; at first glance, it appeared to be a metal reptile. Then everyone seemed to notice the four twin blades, eight in all, that made the airship mobile. Everyone would then hear a voice seemingly come from nowhere.

“Greetings! The creatures have not bothered with us yet, but since you’re here they might start attacking us now. To those of you who are obviously confused, think of my airship as...well… A massive metal ship that can fly like a bird. I shall explain any questions I know you will have once you board.”

On the side of the ship, two hatches opened and a walkway was placed down from inside the ship by unknown persons. A few moments later, two bipedal reptiles appeared in the doorway and waved when they saw Doug.

“Finally! We were wondering when we could leave!” Said one as he and his companion ran down the walkway and over to the group. People asked questions, of course, such as if they were Lizalfos or with the Killer Croc gang and many more but all the two Kremlings said was “we need to get all of you inside before we answer questions, but we will answer them.”

Yet, Doug stayed back a bit as the reptiles corralled everyone else inside the airship, and he spoke into the Slate again.

"I have three requests for you. One, you make sure everyone here gets on your airship, and two, you take off and get away from here."

K. Rool seemed interested, at least his voice was. "And the third thing?"

"Leave my fighter."

There was a pause for a second. "Will do. Don't worry, we'll get everyone away from here. Good luck."

With that, the airship’s walkway retracted, the hatches closed, and she slowly started to rise vertically into the air, the eight (really four) twined-bladed propellers kicking up dust as they started to spin. At the same time, a hatch opened on the undership of the airship and the Golden Sapphire was lowered to the grass, then the deloading claws retracted and the hatchway closed.

Doug looked at his fighter for a moment before he walked over to it and started checking things over. He then released the safety on the cockpit glass and it lifted up and back, allowing the pilot to get in and check everything out before taking off. Sure, it would be rather rough taking off, but his ship could go vertical, much like the airship above him had, and that was good.

“Alright. You can stay and help fight these things if you want, or you can get to a safe distance. If something happens, I’ll make sure to let you know.” Doug didn’t wait for a response, but instead powered up his fighter and took off vertically, not wanting to make any sudden movements incase the creatures decided to attack.

[Menschenfleisch]

Seeds of Anxiety | Avarice and Tone

Maybe it should’ve raised a few flags that AEGIS’ regional headquarters, the one place in Lludw Cigfrain which should’ve been equipped to detect and deal with hauntings, was filled with people who were scared by mere rumours of poltergeists being present within the building’s halls. Then again, with the manner in which Herbert told Valerian about the hotel’s history, it seemed as if his concerns about the people within were less than founded on reality, and more so informed by Herbert’s own biases. He probably thought of them as a superstitious bunch of unqualified harlots; he certainly seemed to hold no shortage of contempt for people that he perceived as being too naive for the job - though it was mostly suppressed by his dedication to professionalism. The man’s next words, however, came as a surprise to Valerian. He seemed genuinely sad and regretful. He expressed a compassion for the people inside that building that seemed to be absent from the higher echelons of AEGIS. Phobos, Deimos, Hex and even September had all treated the deaths of their comrades as inevitabilities and had been, if not entirely flippant about doing so, willing to send people to their deaths while safe in the knowledge that they were saving more people than they were sacrificing. Herbert was the only significant person that Valerian had met so far who resented the fact that such sacrifices were necessary. The fact that he snorted at the phrase “equivalent exchange” was enough to tell Valerian that his assumptions about the poor, overworked man were correct.

He could’ve given Herbert a fresh mindset and a healthy, energised body if he wanted to but he had decided not to grant such boons to anyone almost a century ago. It would be unfair to grant some people extra leases on life or easy existences in other universes while allowing others to come to harm: his time would be much better spent on ensuring that people weren’t dying from wars, atrocities or famine. However, a few months back, when September had begged him for a gift of youth or escape, he’d almost been swayed. Yet, in the end, he had refused. He didn’t know whether that had been the right thing to do or not but September had largely accepted his decision, though she seemed to harbour an inkling of envy - perhaps even anger - toward him now. Valerian hadn’t been an introspective person until recently. Having to tutor Ava, knowing that he would define the personality of the most powerful entity he had ever laid eyes upon, wasn’t just terrifying, it also meant that for the first time in over a century, he’d had to reexamine his own philosophy and beliefs and consider whether those were the best ones to pass on to Avarice. A few months ago he would’ve balked at the idea of throwing others to the wolves out of a sense of pride and a desire for self sufficiency. Now, he did so only mostly because of his pride.”I’m sure that whoever’s in that building now should suffice. Hopefully, it’ll never come to a point where sacrifices will become necessary.” He gestured at the door, not wanting to enter before Herbert invited him inside. It was only courteous, after all. ”After you.”

With permission to enter granted, Avarice sauntered into the hotel’s lobby, walking ahead of either Valerian or Herbert. The place wasn’t in the best shape but it didn’t want for respectability either. The walls were carved out of faded stone which had been made coarse by years of uneven wear and the tiled floor beneath her feet only retained a fraction of the reflective shine that it once had yet the place still seemed nicer than most of the establishments in Lludw Cigfrain, though that was quite a low hanging bar to surpass. Everything was, by and large, a shade of brown or blue; the walls and ceiling were slate while the floor was smooth granite. A series of iron lanterns protruded from the walls and bathed the foyer in an electric orange light while a bundle of receptionists sat behind a roughly semicircular wooden desk at the center of the wall opposite the entrance. Valerian could hardly see them for all the stacks of paper and computer monitors that sat on the table in front of them and they all seemed to be in motion at all times as they worked to arrange the accommodation and registration of the operatives who’d be arriving at the hotel in the near future. He didn’t know whether the hotel still functioned as a mundane establishment nor which of the receptionists were in on the anomalous world and so he decided that it would be impertinent to discuss such matters out loud. Secrecy was certain to be high up on AEGIS’ list of priorities, considering how much effort they had gone to in order to keep the town from realising that a war had been fought in these very streets not a week or so back. Avarice leaned in behind Herbert to speak in his ear in spite of her being almost two metres in front of him. Of course, Herbert was the only one who could see her doing so. She understood the importance of discretion just as much as he did, though she perhaps valued social decorum far less than she should have. ”So who are we going to be working with? Where are we going to be working from? You have a high tech control room, right? Or a visual-reality holodeck-esque headquarters? Oh! Maybe your base of operations is purely noospheric, and we’ll have to fall asleep in order to visit it? Oh man, I can’t wait to see what it looks like!”

At that moment a woman walked into the foyer, emerging from the archway behind Avarice. She had canary-yellow hair tied up in a bun, wore round glasses with a thin bronze frame and was of both middling stature and figure, although she clearly possessed a rather impressive physique. The latter detail was an unusual trait for someone of her occupation, as she was what one might’ve called an “otaku”. In her case, she specifically obsessed over the Infernus and all manner of other fiery afterlives, having been enamoured with them ever since she was a little kid, when her parents - currently working in London as thaumatological consultants - had given her a collection of cartoons produced by the Dead-Disney corporation (apparently Walt Disney had become something of a warlord in the afterlife and had enslaved the souls of dead Pixar employees to create animated propaganda for his armies). It had been an ill advised decision for sure, but rather than traumatising her for life they had cultivated an undying curiosity within her which had motivated her to go to a thaumatological academy and become a freelance mage. The whole freelancing gig had lasted about two years before AEGIS picked her up, preferring to keep skilled thaumatologists under their employ rather than outside of it. The woman, true to her interests, had a book tucked under her arm with no apparent title. Avarice, however, recognised it at once as being the latest installment of the Acheronian Legion series of novels; “The Spire of Agaliarept”. She immediately pounced on the woman, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling the book out from under her elbow, flipping through the pages. ”Paige! Your name is Paige Emery Cosette, right? Oh, I love the AL series. Y’know, Wastes of Titivillus was a great start to the series and all, but Spire of Agaliarept improved on it in nearly every single way. You’ve gotten past chapter three, right? What’d you think of the scene where Surgat-” Paige, overcoming her shock and galvanising herself into action, pulled back and knocked Avarice’s hand off her shoulder before snatching the book back out of her hands. She leaned away from the concept, snapping the book shut. “What the hell? I don’t know what you heard about me from my coworkers but you’ve clearly got the wrong idea. My life doesn’t bloody revolve around the Infernus, alright? I don’t even know what the title of this book is; it’s contraband, and I was bringing it in to be archived.” Ava, chastised, seemed to retreat without physically moving. ”Oh.” That didn’t last long, though. In the blink of an eye she was filled up with joy and jubilation once more. She turned Paige toward the other two, Valerian and Herbert, and exclaimed: ”Meet Valerian! Apparently, we’re going to be working together in the future!” Paige, for her part, seemed mostly resigned to being treated this way, though she certainly thought that this was a very bizarre form of harassment compared to the usual heckling and dismissal that she received elsewhere. “Huh. Wonderful.” ”Ava,” Valerian began with as neutral and diplomatic of a tone as he could muster, ”Could you keep your voice down? I’m sorry, this is Ava. She’s… very excitable.” He turned to Herbert. ”Do you mind introducing us to one another?”

Secrets of the Raven | Jacquelyn

”Flatjack… I knew it was only a matter of time before you made that joke, ‘Liza. You’re always keen to pick the low hanging fruit, aren’t you? I’d call you Ebony but comparing this shitshow to My Immortal would be an insult to Tara Gilesbie.” Jacquelyn stretched out her arms, trying to work the stiffness out of her joints. She doubted that there’d be many more conflicts before they reached Andarta but it always paid to be prepared. She was anxious to stay active; when she was idle she could feel her predecessor’s memories and personality writhing just beneath her subconscious as they attempted to merge with her. It was as if the world’s smallest and most ineffective masseuse was kneading the flesh on the back of her neck and slowly working their way up through her skull toward the bridge of her nose. She had to speak, or move, or do something to keep herself distracted. ”BonziBUDDY? That’s an old, old reference. Fuck me, I’m glad I never got to have a childhood. If I did, I’m sure that those empty eyes and that smooth, purple face would still haunt me to this day. Sorry about your pet ‘rilla, by the way. The last time I saw him he was doing pretty well for himself but I have no idea whether he came out on top of his fight with the Zeloths or not.”

”High school flashbacks? Liz, did I just- you fucking what, lass? You had AIDS during high school?” She raised an eyebrow and held back a snicker. She didn’t say it out loud (although she was sure the goddesses could read her mind) but she was trying to be the sane man of the group, similar to the roles that Dawn and Celeste typically played. Being a wacky, zany, socially retarded and incredibly offensive bitch that she usually was took a lot of effort. Besides, she’d rather be snarky and respectable than offputting and impulsive. She snapped her finger at Dawn, no longer worrying about Alex’s situation. If the goddess was making jokes about the unholy tortures that the wraith must be undergoing, there was sure to be a humorous subversion of expectations later on. Although, by acknowledging that, Jack realised that she’d just established the groundwork for a double reversal. Did that mean that Alex was or wasn’t being tormented by Celeste? She didn’t want to think about it. ”Y’see? Dawn’s got the right idea. Besides, I doubt you’d ever have AIDS, Liz: I’d be shocked if there was anyone on Earth who’d choose to fuck you before a Saguaro cactus.” It felt too easy. Even though she knew that Liz had put herself in this position and that the witch certainly didn’t mind the groups’ taunting (at least, not enough to hold a grudge against those who were laughing at her), Jack felt like she was a schoolyard bully. She had recognised before that humour was her coping mechanism and that whenever she felt vulnerable or disadvantaged she externalised that feeling by picking on others but she’d never given that habit much thought or scrutiny. It felt horrible to realise that she was so sickeningly shallow, as if she’d just been told that she’d been making a kid feel horrible about themselves for years without ever having realised that she was having such a profound effect on them. Elizabeth deserved better. That witch - who’d lost her mother and her best friend and whose bright future had been torn out from under her feet by one single lapse in judgement - deserved better than having to babysit an immature womanchild. What the fuck did Jack know about hardship? The world had handed her all the cards that she’d ever wanted: a loyal and impossibly powerful best friend, a rich patron whose personality was nothing short of wonderful and full of texture, an absurd amount of power, a guaranteed long lifespan and an existence in a world where anything could be achieved, begged for or granted. The deck had been stacked in her favour all along and yet here she was: hated by the town to the point where she’d needed to adopt a new name, homeless and impotent. Everyone hated her, she knew it. The town was happy to say it out loud but Elizabeth and the rest of the team had yet to admit it only because she was right there in front of them. Pity was the only thing keeping the Ashwoods from running her out onto the street, and she wouldn’t even blame them if they decided to do it. She, she-...

Like an ice cube melting in a glass of whisky, Jacquelyn’s self loathing dissolved and dispersed. It was still there - much like the ice was still inside the glass - slithering around inside her skull and tinting every thought with its touch, but she no longer felt overwhelmed by it. She unclenched her fist and the colour of her knuckles returned to a healthier, less pale shade. Imperceptibly small red bands on her palm indicated where her nails had dug into her skin. The episodes were getting longer, that feeling of guilt was getting harder to escape. She tried to laugh it off: what did she have to feel guilty for? It was just the story, right? She hadn’t written those insults herself, she hadn’t hurt those people on purpose, she hadn’t razed those cities alone, she… she was doing it again. But what else could she do? Accept that all of it was her fault and be crushed under the weight of her own awful decisions and irredeemable personality? She knew that if she grappled with her guilt she’d lose. Yet, the more she ignored it, the larger the avalanche became. She’d face it someday, she promised herself, but even she felt like that was a transparent lie.

Elizabeth growled and sh- she almost fucking tripped over. Who- what were they talking about now? Had Liz been growling at her? Her heart was racing inside her chest, replacing the unhealthy pallor of her face with a somewhat healthier shade of pink. She forced a smile and leaned on one leg as she dryly addressed the witch. ”What am I, a teacher taking a class on a school excursion? And as for the baby, I didn’t exactly get a good look at it on account of getting haymaker’d by a rock. My skull’s not as thin as my chest though: I should be able to recall where I found it.” She led them toward the tunnel where she had taken Mei. She kept an eye out for possible angles of attack the whole time as she was well aware that Zeloths were probably a lot smarter - and a lot more partial to ambushes - than the dipshits who’d decided that swollen flesh armies and demon lords worked best when deployed inside cramped, bottleneck-rich mineshafts. Then again, it was obvious that Jack and the rest of the gang were even dumber than the Crimsonites, since they hadn’t even thought to retreat into one of the mineshafts in order to force the homunculi into a chokepoint. If Kyle had been around he would’ve had a plan; he would’ve brought enough healing supplies and munitions for everyone. At least, the new (and now dead) Kyle would’ve. The old Kyle, the kind one who had been her friend before the Authors had retconned him into a monster, might not have known what was going to happen so comprehensively but she was sure that he would’ve had more to say and more jokes, as awful as they often were, to tell. And if he had been here, at least Jack would’ve known that there was someone on the team who got it; someone who would’ve understood her. But then again, she had alienated that version of him. The memory of the argument still stung like a fresh wound and every time she recalled it, it felt as if she was pouring vinegar into that injury. ”Liz. When we get to Andarta, what are you-... what are we going to do? We’re not just going to execute her, right? I mean, she’s… I don’t mean to say that she’s a good person necessarily, but she’s not all that bad… right?”

The Great Wizarding Rebellion | Kiara and Polly

”You…” Kiara was no longer speaking for the sake of those around her. She was talking to the monster in her native tongue. She orated out loud, committing thousands of words to the air in seconds. “You fucking… selfish little shit.” Her skin seemed to pulsate as her macrodermis undulated, sending waves of black and red up and down her body. Her eyes turned a shade of brown and her skin darkened to an ebony black. “Wasn’t this supposed to be our story? Why’d you do this? Why did you let this happen? I thought of you as a friend, not a hero or an idol. And yet here you are, having sacrificed yourself for my sake. What’s your problem? Why have you always got to be so selfless? Y-...” Her heart raced inside her chest and she took a step forward, raising a hand as if to lay it on the creature’s face. “I know it’s selfish but I wanted you to carry the flame. I can’t do this, not as I am right now.” As if moved by marionette strings, Kiara’s arms came up and she laid her fingers on her wrist. Her nails, sharpened to razor edges, dug into her skin on the verge of cutting through. “Skye… is this what you want me to do? To take the flame from you? But you know I can’t do that, you know I can’t kill. So why would you...” She could steal the fire back if she so desired. Skye’s corpse had been incorporated into this creature, which meant that she had played the part of the villain in the monster’s hero’s journey. If Kiara killed the creature, it would’ve played the part of an antagonist in her story. Thus, the Spark would not go out. She readied her fingers as if to slice her wrist open only to pause. “Wait...” The skeleton was covered in sheer stress marks, similar to those generated by immense pressures. There was not a scrap of flesh hanging off the bones nor any chipped locations. Skye had either been killed instantly or she had not fought against the creature in the first place. It became clear to Kiara that her best friend, the person that she had seen herself helping for centuries into the future, had killed herself but hours ago.

Kiara stood still. Nothing mattered anymore, not to her at least. “Skye, you bitch. Why? Why?” She clenched her fist, dragging her nails through her skin. She dug up layers upon layers of her dermal scales but did not pierce her flesh. One more scratch and she’d start bleeding. She felt no reservations about letting others see her blood now; how could she maintain her morals and values in the face of what Skye had just done? Her friend had killed everyone, she’d killed an entire universe. Now, there was no home to return to. There was nothing awaiting Kiara, nobody who would ever speak to her again. She was alone and stranded in a foreign universe, unable to return or do anything about the demise of her home. The Spark had gone out: the embers had cooled. Now, she was truly alone. In one hour she had lost her friend, her universe, her entire life. She could’ve killed herself right then: it would’ve been the pragmatic thing to do. But then her fingers began to glow and her eyes flared with light. It was like needles were being forced through her sclera. The world exploded into light and she screamed out loud as smoke and sparks billowed from her thousand irises. As soon as Kiara had denounced Skye, as soon as she had realised what Skye had done, her best friend had become, in her eyes, a villain. And thus, the flame had been passed on. Kiara was now the sparkbearer. Her vision did not cool or decrease in luminosity, she merely adjusted to being a host to the fire. She was speechless, stunned, unable to process this turn of events. It all seemed so surreal, so pointless, so meandering. But none of that was important to her. Why was Skye dead? What was she to do now? She almost would’ve preferred it if the spark hadn’t been passed onto her; at least then she wouldn’t have been saddled with the burden of slaughtering others for the sake of keeping her homeworld alive.

After seconds of kneeling in the mud and waiting for her mind to stop turning, Kiara stood up and wiped the ashes from her eyelids. This was… absurd. This situation, this battle, everything that surrounded her. Yet, what was she to do but follow the instructions seemingly laid out before her? Her only option now was to fight and kill for the sake of a world she’d never be able to visit again. She had no desire to fight the satyr or the caprine demon but she was forced by her situation to act. They had killed the only person she’d ever been able to call an acquaintance: they were packed with narrativistic tension. If she took them down now, she’d have enough story to fuel the fire for weeks. Eels and butterflies seemed to tumble and turn inside her stomach and dogs’ tongues seemed to lap at her heart. She pushed through those sensations and forced her queasy mind to settle before standing up to the two monsters laid out before her. Her intentions were clear. Now, she only waited for them to act against her.

[Turmenista]

King of the Stars
"Prologue" | Lawless Space
Andios Lockjaw
__________________________________

OST — Starless

In an instant, Andios's starship appeared in normal space after exiting warp at an arbitrarily high velocity, slowly coming to a halt in the system. In informal terms, he had essentially "cheated" his way past boring hyperspace lanes and warp gates, as opposed to just "flying in really fast" to his destination like with a FTL jump, as that risked detection, and tended to be more noisy towards deep space detection devices. While warp drives like Andios's were slower to cool down, they offered ships the ability to slip in by entering a dimension of space practically undetectable in normal terms. The system Andios's ship had entered was dominated by a large red gas giant that gave the system a slightly aesthetic crimson glow, the target station just barely visible within the gas giant's massive asteroid belt.

The Pleasuredome, they called it, one of the galaxy's hubs of hedonism, degeneracy, and contract work. Andios's ship slipping in was something quite out of the norm—as opposed to the usual with everyone else's ships, normally freighters or highly-modified attack ships piloted by mercs, marauders, or pirates, his was a ship with frigate tonnage but served a hybrid role: a freighter, command ship, blockade runner, and assault ship, all in one package. The nearly 600-meter long ship was red and black, covered in chipped and scorched war paint that gave it a sort of "bloodied" or battered appearance, but the name remained untouched, as if it were supernaturally pristine from the battered hull paint: the Angel.

It had taken Andios a long time to move past the stinging, painful memory that was his departure from Black Battalion, which, even now, still clung to him like the pungent stench of marijuana that he simply couldn't get off him. The ship was a former Black Battalion blockade runner, many of his weapons inherited off the pirates he once called family, even the leather flight jacket he wore was from the Black Battalion, albeit with the patches removed and replaced with his own of a myriad of sponsor companies and groups. What he did — what they did, was unforgettable, for lack of a better word, and he hated it. Whatever he could scavenge and strap onto the ship had come from his own pockets, but no matter what he did, nothing could help him forget those memories. His ship was a memento, the jacket a memento, the weapons a memento, everything a constant reminder...

Stops at places like the Pleasuredome helped him get his mind off the bad memories, usually through the copious consumption of alcohol, meditation, or just regular R&R, if the spare interactions with his crew didn't help at all. Hopefully getting in would be uneventful as usual.

The protective shutters over the bridge came up as they exited warp, their surroundings becoming much more evident now, if the elaborate sensors and electronic warfare instruments on the bridge didn't make it obvious already. The Pleasuredome was located in a very simple system, which was otherwise void of life, sans the station itself, which took up a large portion of Andios's view right now. It was massive and shaped like a sort of upside-down cake of sort, the ships flying to and from the station to various warp gates or off to FTL jump giving it the impression of a very busy, very efficient beehive in deep space.

Andios marched into the bridge silently, the interior lights turning on at once to gradually illuminate the interior. Much of the computers and consoles and lights in the bridge were booting back up or coming back online from their powered-down state due to the warp jump, so he at least had some time to check his surroundings and ensure he wasn't being followed...

..if anyone dared to attack him in such a public place like the Pleasuredome, that is.

Andios's command chair lowered from the ceiling from the upper levels of the bridge, which had been converted into little more than an observatory separate from the rest of the ship, which Andios had, for lack of a better word, turned into his personal bedroom. The bridge was full of the usual few crew of hirees, namely a human named Jenkins as his navigator, and some much larger, balder man named Colin as his first mate. There was, of course, someone else, but she usually didn't show up for anyone except Andios...

"Astrid, any inbound comms from the Pleasuredome?" Andios answered to no one in particular, up until the human-sized holographic projection of another Feli appeared in his command chair, Andios leaning on the swiveling seat with a bored look in his eyes. The sultry AI shook her head, stretching herself as Andios eyed the AI avatar's slender, toned form for a bit. "No, Andios, not right now. It's quite a busy day but we've got multiple docking ports open."

Andios thought for a moment, then pointed off towards a nondescript section of the Pleasuredome with a clawed finger. "27N. Dock there." He paused, beginning his own personal checklist in his head. "I also want...a partial rearm and repair job done to the ship, make sure our FTL drive's good for tac-jumps, warp good for long-range. All our instruments..should be alright for Instrument navigation, but all our weapons need to be fully-stocked."

The Feli male turned around for the exit, but not before adding one final note, emphasized by a finger he held up towards the ceiling as he faced the doors. "You can forward all the payment expenses to my acount. I need a drink."

"Very well." Astrid nodded, her form dematerializing as Andios left the bridge, the automatic doors hissing shut behind him.

---

The River

The "streets" of The Pleasuredome were dark and cramped, as to be expected from an artificial creation like this. There was no day/night cycle like with some stations, leaving the markets, shops, and other locations throughout the biosphere perpetually plunged in night. If the station was empty, getting from one side to the other would take no more than an hour. But with the sheer volume of people, it'd mean the time of getting to where he'd want to go would be doubled.

The sheer density of people in the Pleasuredome was already evident in the many people that worked and lived in the mess of brutalist, modernist, and futurist architecture that made up the housing units, the luxury skyline suites visible off in the artificial "mountains" in the distance, looming overhead.

Andios wrinkled his nose in disgust at the stench of cooking street "food", tobacco smoke, human and alien musk, diesel, fast food grease, garbage, cannabis, rotting meat, excrement, and a myriad of other disgusting smells, all present in the lower "Bowels" of the pleasuredome. One whiff of this unfathomably nasty blend was enough to make one gag, but as was life down in the poorer parts of the Pleasuredome, where those who lived paycheck to paycheck or in poverty thrived and survived. Somehow...

He finally managed his way out of the area, entering the true Pleasuredome for what it was, the hedonistic "Red Light District" that so many of the galaxy's undesirables flocked to. Glowing with its neon hues and the ever-audible boom of thumping rap music somewhere, the Pleasuredome's Red Light District was oddly more comfortable than the "Bowels" Andios had trudged through earlier..in spite of the fact that this was more dangerous than the Bowels.

Despite teeming with activity and seeming quite safe, there truly was no rules in the Red Light District—even the Pleasuredome's own security forces would bat an eye to things as heinous as rape or murder. The lack of laws evidently was excellent in sponsoring trade and activity, which was perhaps why the authorities were so reluctant to go and put a stop to it. Andios remembered an old saying of the area: it was the galaxy's little hedonistic melting pot, open to those insane, willing few who wanted to indulge in countless pleasures and get themselves lost in the web of the galaxy's stellar hell.

He could only nod in agreement with that statement, keeping his head low as he maneuvered through the crimson light-lit maze. Everyone avoided him like he was a demon, an outsider, as the disproportionately human population of the station either continued selling street food, running to the nearest brothel, or passing by Andios with the occasional "Grimalkin" remark or "Fuck off, 'nip addict." These people were almost like a tribe—a highly urban tribe, even...and a very xenophobic one, at that. The sheer density of humans and imposing, shady buildings around him was intimidating, so he was glad that he at least had a gun to put between himself and faceless, hostile humans...at least, for now.

With a rough guesstimate on his location, Andios correctly deduced that his location was coming up, exiting the crowd for a building called the "Lazy Comet." The neon-lit building was much like any planet-based bar, the occasional leather jacket and cigarette-smoking tough guy outside, along with the occasional prostitute. He walked past both and stepped towards the door, his head still low as it opened automatically with a metallic hiss.

Andios stepped inside, his eyes adjusting to the sudden shift from the dark, neon-lit outside to a dimly-lit inside, sans lights on the ceiling and floor. Screens were all around, mimicking what appeared to be television screens, playing the latest sports game from whatever nondescript system was famous nowadays. In another section of the bar, past the tables for pool and other games, there was a small stage with a veritable crowd around, a seven-person human band playing some psychidelic rock song that, in conjunction with all the alcohol and drugs, would've definitely added to the aesthetic, making the experience all the more surreal.

Andios, right now, was sober...but he didn't intend to be so for long.

The bar in the center was lit up and attended to by barkeeps, both robots and humans working to supply booze and a good time, an imposing wall of alcohol behind each of the workers, showing the bar was, evidently, well-stacked. The Feli freelancer stepped up to the bar, reaching into his pocket for the right amount of credits and setting them down. "Sunset Ale. The whole bottle."

The robotic bartender fetched the bottle in question without delay. It was a rather elaborate-looking frosted liquor bottle with very ornate engraving, and some glowing orange liquid inside, a glass set down beside it. Andios took the bottle and glass and wandered over to his own booth, methodically setting each down and opening the bottle, where he poured himself a sizable portion of the bottle.

Then, he drank.

He wasn't so sure about how long he'd been drinking, because before he knew it, the bottle of the glowing liquid was empty, Andios was looking for more, and his judgement was already becoming clouded. He prepared to leave his booth, his somewhat clumsy path blocked by a rather sizable and squishy thing in the way.

"Get lost, y'hairless ape," He drowsily said, looking up to the immovable object in question, a large, bald man in a suit, accompanied by a rather effeminate and blonde human with piercing blue eyes, who peered right into Andios's bright, albeit sleepy amber eyes. "I said get l-"

"Oh, but I just want to talk. I've heard a lot about you." The man's voice was elegant, icy, and soft. "You look like you could use another drink..I can provide."

"I guess.." Andios looked at the empty bottle. Maybe this was an opportunity for work, too—the guy looked rich, anyways.

He followed him into the backrooms of the bar, the blonde man's bodyguard guarding the way for their entry into the secluded private area, standing beside the door as it hissed shut. Inside was a private area complete with a rather comfortable couch, table, and a small screen, though it was turned off. The doors closing left Andios and this strange man in here, a realization the Feli quickly came to see as a tad bit too awkward. "Don't.. y'know.. don't y'know people, like.. fuck in here?"

"Oh, please, if I was coming for Feli, I'd go to the brothel," The man said, crossing one leg over the other as he held a hand over the wall, a hidden compartment with a holographic keypad emerging. Before he set his hand on the keypad, his eyes turned to Andios's, locking both of their gazes together. "Although.. I wouldn't be opposed to the notion.."

"Whuh?" Andios tilted his head, sloppily lounging on the couch while the man just sat there. "You tryna do something?"

The man chuckled. "Nothing. Name your favorite drink."

"Sunset Ale."

"Something more expensive, Andios."

The Feli thought for a moment as the man relaxed. "Appleton Estate Rum, signature blend. Get it with orange juice, pineapple juice, lime juice and cherry grenadine. A little catnip wouldn't hurt, either. All that shit."

The man grinned, inputting something into the holographic keypad. Some time passed before the bottle of Earth rum emerged as requested, one glass for Andios, one glass for the strange man. As he reached for it, Andios saw the man flick his hand—before he knew it, his hand was frozen in place, but that left his other hand open, which Andios promptly drew his second plasma pistol from, aiming it at the man. This hand, as well, became frozen in time, a hazy aura around it similar to the effect of heat radiating from a hot surface.

"You're one of 'em fancy types.." Andios muttered. "If only my right hand was working, I coulda had my other plasma pistol and blown your brains out."

"You could say I'm fancy, as I've got a number of skills and abilities. I just wanted to see your reaction time." The man explained, lowering his hand slowly as Andios unwillingly holstered his gun. "I heard rumors. Andios Lockjaw. What you did with the Black Battalion was...brutal, methodical. Traits I like, traits I need. I'll let you name your price."

"I'm ain't naming shit unless I get one from you," Andios retorted, somehow more sober than before. "Who are you?"

"I'm known as.. Geta. Just call me Mr. Geta." The blonde man explained. "I'm a sort of globetrotter, a traveler of the multiverse. The recent rifts opening up has let me expand my venture and interest...but, alas, I find myself in need of support. Boots-on-the-ground instead of just doing things myself, if you will. You 'dig', as they say?"

Marginally more comfortable with what this man had to offer, Andios relaxed. The man seemed to be docile enough, but his sudden move of disabling his hand was unexpected, and a dick one, at that. "Okay...so you travel the multiverse. Big deal. I've got bigger things to handle, like jobs I could be running in this world. I don't gotta dabble in whatever fancy-pants sword and dragon shit is going on next door."

"Oh, but haven't you always wanted to do.. more?" Geta asked, suddenly sitting up and moving close next to Andios.. uncomfortably close. He leaned back, using the Feli's rather bushy tail as a sort of pillow as he motioned to the screen. "Andios, I've seen things you wouldn't believe in, things you may see as fiction. Things I see as opportunity, which, I hope, may seem enticing to you." The screen began playing a sort of slideshow of a myriad of worlds and places, taken seemingly on old polaroid cameras. "Been to many places. Seen many things. But the one thing I noticed is that they are all ripe for opportunity. All ripe for work. I, now, have found myself in need of help aside from doing all the work by myself...aching bones, if you will."

He turned around, looming uncomfortably over Andios's mostly-frozen body in a suggestive position of power, placing a single finger on the Feli's nose. "The one thing I haven't forgotten is that people are the most valuable resource. I've heard this over and over again, and no truer is that mantra. I need people who are willing to fight and conquer..people like you, you see. Looking for a mission and purpose. Looking to turn a profit, but also making a difference."

"What're you implying?" Andios asked, still trying to get his mind off the uncomfortable position, though it seemed his mind was elsewhere. Somewhere closer to his tail, perhaps...But why does this guy sound so..I don't know the word..persuasive?

"I'm implying that I want to show the world what I'm made of. I want to make a difference, make a name for myself...and, in doing so, help make a name for you. Make a name for what you want to do, give you purpose. I want to show you the world for what it truly is, not just this..." Geta opened up his arms, his hands making dramatic gestures as if he was trying to find a word. "Nothingness! This lack of purpose, you see. Here, where we are, right now..it's rock bottom. But there?" He gestured to the screen, of all the countless locations he'd been to. "It's everything. Things even I can't describe easily. I only wish for your support.."

Geta sat up, although he was still uncomfortably close to Andios. He extended a hand towards the Feli, as if for dramatic effect. “The plan is simple. One day, we could be waging a guerrilla war of attrition against some empire. Another day, running weapons for pirates that sail the seas of some world out there, but we do it on our terms, to make a name for ourselves. Hell, we may even get a shot at that so-called "King of the Stars" spot they say, if we make enough noise..." He paused, for dramatic effect, leaning in once more. "All I ask is your hand in this, Andios. Who knows, it may even be a little fun...?"

Andios thought long and hard about what this absolute madman was proposing. The man was eccentric, persuasive, but he was effectively funding his pirate band, and he needed people like Andios to back him up. He could respect the man’s grind and determination, as well as his abilities and perseverance, but, eventually, there came a point where one’s grind and determination got to the point that it was unhealthy, or borderline dangerous…

But, maybe he was all wrong.. maybe this was the thing he needed in his life? Andios needed guidance and purpose, something to move past the Black Battalion, so perhaps this could be that opportunity…

“Aight, I’m in, smoothskin.” Andios, finding his arms could work now, shook Geta's hand. “I have my own kit, my own stuff, my own ship and crew. I want a leadership spot guaranteed in this.”

“All of that can be arranged.” Geta smiled, returning the handshake. "Your first mission may hit a little close to home, but I have faith in you, my furry gib friend." He took his own glass of rum, presenting it in a toast to Andios.

Reluctantly, the Feli took his own glass, their two glasses clinking as they drank. Halfway through, Andios turned to Geta, narrowing his eyes. "So, about that last remark, are you implying I'm some neutered thing, or a true Feli warrior? And don't look at me like that.."

---

King of the Stars
"Prologue pt. 2" | Lawless Space
Andios Lockjaw
__________________________________

"Astrid, open transmission," Andios ordered, settling back down into his chair. A holographic screen appeared in front of the viewport that would've usually led out to space, showing the face of Geta, lounging somewhere nice. "Andios, the mission is simple—I have a bit of a pirate problem...some people you may know. Before I settle down in this empty sector, I want them dealt with. Speedily."

"Aight. It'll be done. Andios out." Andios closed communications, swiveling around to his navigator Jenkins, first mate, Colin, and the others on the bridge. "So.. we ready?" He already knew that Colin was going to be calm and methodical, but Jenkins was a piece of work, sometimes stubbornly so, but that was to be expected from someone of his pedigree.

"Aye, captain... it's also a good time we got that transmission, y'know!"

Both Andios and Colin looked at each other, then at Jenkins. "Elaborate," The first mate said without faltering.

"For one, there's an asteroid field coming up directly to our front, we'll be reaching it in a couple hundred kilometers, about five minutes at this speed. Nothing too big." He then paused, assessing some of the data. "The biggie is that I think there's some warp readings nearby. Two, actually. Similar in size to cruiser-tonnage ships, so we might not be alone."

"Raise our readiness to yellow," Andios ordered. "I want all our guns trained on those ships as soon as they come into view, and we should keep tracking 'em. Even if they're outside of visual range, they're within instrument range..." He paused. "If it's pirate in origin, I want it extra dead."

"Aye, captain," Colin said.

The image on the deep space scanner came up above the NAV tank, indicating the ships in question had warped into the area nearby... He looked at the dark outlines in the sea of blues, indicating the asteroid belt, each of the obviously artificial miniature figurines of the inbound holographic ships had a field of a hazy purple color around their figures, indicating the warp energy. Jenkins's reaction was audible. "One is a cruiser tonnage, other is a frigate. That's raising all sorts of red flags, man. Can't ID 'em."

Colin looked up from his station. "Geta said a cruiser, right? That's twice our size... Could he have sent in backup, cap'n?" It was hard for Andios to forget that Colin was a mercenary, likely some kind of Fed or a navy type, so his professionalism was sometimes unexpected. Andios shook his head, assuming a serious tone. "But that's the thing, Colin: we didn't call for backup."

Just barely in their visual range, among the huge planetoids and other space rocks in their path, two massive blue spheres suddenly ripped two holes open in space time. It might've seen like a far away distance, but there was only a couple thousand kilometers between the ships, which, in reality, was way too close for comfort. Out of the vortex came a menacing Cruiser, and then a Heavy Frigate, though their visual appearances alone were enough to cause panic in Andios's mind due to their blood red and black color scheme, chipped war paint, and red low-emission repulsor engines, as opposed to the blue engines usually mounted on most ships that weren't out for blood.

The red and black...that was a dead giveaway of their origin: the Black Battalion. The incoming cruiser in particular, nearly one and a half kilometers in length, easily dwarfed Andios's ship, and looked like it was out for blood, given it was turning. Its collision lights seemed to be on, however, as if it was indicating it was trying to contact them—

"Holy mother of fuck!" A crew member in the Navigation section of the command center rather abruptly cursed out loud. "Incoming, incoming, incoming! Plasma cannon volley, straight ahead — and fast!"

Andios quickly took control, watching the glowing red bolts approach both on the NAV tank and outside, in reality. "Reorient to bearing zero eight five, and get us the fuck out of the fucking way, combat speed!" He bellowed, holding on to his butt as his ship executed a thruster-assisted sharp left turn and kicked its systems into full gear, its engines flaring up to its maximum output possible as the ship sped forwards, entering the belt and evading the plasma fire. The space rocks around them were perfect protection from the plasma cannon rounds, which slammed into nearby rocks, shattering them into hundreds of pieces in silent, colorful explosions that rattled the ship.

Andios gave a sigh as they slithered through the belt, trying to work a way past the cruiser and its escort. "I guess that's our cruiser, fellas. That was way too close."

"Too close?!" Jenkins began to panic, already worrying about the possible outcome of the admittedly one-sided engagement they were in. "That's a danger close-ass crusier over there! And a fucking Heavy Frigate!!"

"Mother of—Fucking keep it together!" Colin hollered. At this point, Jenkins's anxiety was getting annoying, which Andios knew would become a liability in the heat of battle—it was basic science, after all. The more scared shitless someone was, the less effective they worked.

Andios batted a finger towards Jenkins. "You got two choices, pussy: man your post and and man the fuck up while you're at it; or you can leave, and I can easily find someone to replace your pathetic ass. The choice is yours, but it's life or death now. At this point, I'm fine with either outcome."

Jenkins remained quiet, Andios popping a grin. "You're not pussying out? Good.. now, hold it together, guys. We may just be a frigate, but there's some pirate motherfuckers downrange there, and they look like easy pickings, and I have a personal stake with 'em. Let's get to work."

"Hell yeah!" Colin hollered. "Battlestations! Let's take down these fuckers!"

OST

As soon as they began to move, the pirate ships began to move. And fast. The Angel hadn't engaged them at all yet, but it was already activating its electronic countermeasures and point defense weapons in preparation for another brutal plasma cannon bombardment from the Cruiser. Instead of doing so, the much larger ship began to launch a portion of its strike craft complement, fighters swarming out like little bees from a hive.

"Strike craft inbound," Colin said without emotion. "Plan of action?"

"Launch our own drones to counter them, and get our point defense guns online to screen those fighters." Andios clenched the side of his command chair tightly as the drone craft launched from dedicated launch tubes on their ship, the Angel's mass driver Point Defense Guns activating. The guns, combined with the fire support from the drones, were enough to effectively screen the fighters, allowing for the Angel's more accurate point defense guns to surgically take out each of the gunboats from a distance, ending the Cruiser's long range assault.

"Keep us moving," Andios ordered. "Get us in range of that ship, but keep the Angel out of range of anything big on that ship. We're small, and we may be fast enough to dodge it, but I don't think we'll last long up close."

"A-aye aye," Jenkins said, inputting the respective navigation coordinates to the helmsman, who maneuvered the Angel through incoming fire and the belt as if she were a sporting yacht. As plasma fire that bore colors from all across the color spectrum flew past or hit the ship's shields or the occasional asteroid, splashing colorful radiation harmlessly across the viewscreen, Andios began to consider their odds. Maybe Jenkins was right. Maybe this was a bad idea, and he did have the right to be scared about this battle. By all known naval tactics doctrines a frigate going up in a one-on-one fight against a cruiser or larger was likely going to result in a win for the latter. Not to mention, they were outnumbered two to one. A Heavy Frigate was not a threat to be trifled with, so they had to put an equal amount of focus in on it as they did against the Cruiser. The Angel did have a good crew and sure as hell had a good captain, and Andios did doubt the capability of mere pirates, but pirates that were ex-Black Battalion were a different story. They were vicious, relentless, and a real pain in the ass to deal with.

And he knew them more than anyone else...they weren't going to go down without a fight.

"Contacts! Two more!" Jenkins suddenly screamed, pinging the two nearly frigate-sized objects that broke off from the side of the Cruiser, almost invisible compared to the much larger size of their mother ship. These new contacts were corvette-class ships, fast assault craft ships that could double as blockade runners, but mostly found themselves fulfilling various roles like fighter screening or raiding.

Their impulse engines lit up bright in the darkness of space as they gradually began to pick up speed, attempting to flank the Angel from both sides. Typical Pirate tactics. Andios sighed as if he knew the tactic so well, wishing he had more drones to spare than the ones he already had, which were already beginning to engage the corvettes with abysmal results. A single frigate like his could only fend off so many threats at once, let alone two borderline frigates, one actual one, and one cruiser currently shelling them from afar.

The two larger starships, on the other hand, slowly diverted their path away from the Angel and instead looked to go on a longer, flanking route towards the Feli's ship, their own anti-FTL Gravity well generators pushing away all the asteroids in their path. Meanwhile, the two corvettes still sped towards the Angel like a torpedo, with no clear intention on whether or not they were going to outright ram the Destroyer or suicidally buzz the bridge. This seemed to beg the question to Andios, though: Was the cruiser simply going to leave the Angel to die against two Caravels while they went around for a flanking maneuver?

If so... their captain is one of the laziest captains that I've ever met in my life... and a retard.

Exiting his thoughts, Andios grinned slyly. "I have an idea."

Jenkins worryingly sighed. "Oh joy."

"Astrid, remove the weapons safety locks on our MORAY-class homing mines. Prepare to dump... a shit ton of them."

A female voice from the NAV tank filled the bridge as their artificial intelligence went to work. "MORAYs armed, Captain."

"Set their fuses to remote detonation only. Disable proxmity detonation. Stand by.. for a launch vector." Andios said, tapping in a code into his command screen: 0425. Should he press those numbers on the radio frequency prompt and press ENTER, they'd all set off, which would create quite the spectacle, while also doing a number to anything remotely nearby, either downright obliterating them or disabling them from the resulting EMP from the nuclear explosion.

Astrid gave a pause. "Done."

"Alright..." Andios clasped his hands together, placing them over his mouth. "Set the MORAYs' course for, uhh... mark two zero zero. Full burn for ten seconds, then full stop."

A pause came from Astrid for a split second. "Aye, Captain. The MORAYs' course has been set for mark two zero zero, full burn for ten seconds, then full stop. MORAYs ready to launch, on demand."

"Wouldn't that take them away from the enemy cruisers's direction?" Jenkins spoke up, to which Andios only responded with a glare. "I am aware. Keep your mouth shut unless it's something important, Jenkins." The navigator sat back down, leaning back and forth nervously as Andios linked up with the two MORAYs on his holographic command screen that hovered beside his chair, setting a timer. "Sixty seconds. On my mark, Astrid, I want you to launch those MORAYs."

"Aye, Captain," Astrid said, her avatar appearing and hovering a hand over a holographic button. "All other weapons are hot and ready."

"Excellent. Prepare to roll out," he announced, klaxon sirens blaring in the background as he held on. "I want power to our shields and engines, shields up and at max. We're about to tank whatever they're going to throw at us. Astrid, remember, keep those MORAYs in here until I say so."

"Plasma fire inbound!" Jenkins suddenly screamed. The corvettes swooped in on the upper section of the Angel, pink plasma fire bouncing down onto the shields as two emerald green glowing spheres shot past the bridge, giving everyone in the bridge goosebumps as an intense wave of heat washed over the ship. Thankfully, the corvettes' pulse lasers had done no damage—their more dangerous, dumb-fired plasma bolts had missed the ship, but just barely. Radiation from the plasma ordinance splashed over the viewscreens, briefly distorting them before their vision came back once more.

The Angel rocketed past the two corvettes like a bullet, causing them to quickly leave sight as the front viewscreen instead focused in on the two larger starships. Luckily, that's why rear viewscreens existed, the realization of this causing Andios to assume a grin on his face as he held on, watching the corvettes perform a U-turn and pursue the frigate, locking on and firing their plasma bolts at the Yevosh.

"Good. Keep chasing me, you assholes. Chase my ass to oblivion," he muttered, before assessing his crew. "Jenkins, set a maneuver. Prime the lower maneuvering impulse thrusters and have them fully charged, ready to activate on my command. Otherwise, full power to engines and direct us to bearing one-eight-seven, grid reference Alpha-zero-seven. Declination zero zero point one four degrees."

"Aye aye!" Jenkins said. "New heading: bearing one-eight-seven, grid reference Alpha-zero-seve—oh fuck." he paused his repeat, turning to Andios. "Wait a second... that'd put us on a collision course towards the cruiser and the frigate..!"

“Which is exactly where I need us,” Andios wasted no time in replying. This was no time for crew insubordination, and, like he said, Jenkins could be temporarily removed from his post if he proved to be a problem. “You got a problem with that, buddy?”

Jenkins paused, before shaking his head and returning to his station. "No, Captain. I don't."

“Then man your fucking post and get your ass ready! We’re executing the maneuver… ten seconds!" He whipped his head to Astrid's digital form. "Astrid, launch those MORAYs!"

Astrid nodded, hitting her own digital console. On the side viewscreens, the small mobile mines began their burn towards their destination, away from the fighting, utilizing the built in engines into their frame. "MORAYs away!" Astrid reported dutifully. "On course, mark two zero zero, full burn!"

Andios returned the elephant in the room: The cruiser and its frigate escort were no more than 20 kilometers away from the front of the Angel. At the speed they were going at now, they'd be making that distance in mere seconds. Andios held on tightly as the distance between the Angel and the cruiser continued to plummet rapidly. One very annoying thing then happened: right before his eyes, the cruiser's engines flared up to a hot white color as it executed a short range FTL jump, seemingly teleporting out of the way of the incoming frigate, leaving the Heavy Frigate escort to face the Angel by itself.

It was trying to run. But what Andios had planned next was crazy—nothing any flight school would teach a captain, let alone condone. But, hopefully... it'd work. Unbeknownst to the cruiser and its allies, they'd just fallen right into his trap.

Just when he thought they were about to slam into the Frigate, Andios cried out, "Now, Jenkins! Hit it!", and gritted his teeth for the impending G-forces that were about to hit the command center.

The Angel soared upwards and over the ship, part of her prow grazing the top half of the Heavy Frigate and effortlessly breaking through its shields, producing a thick gash on its surface. The shields of the heavy frigate blinked once, then vanished, allowing one corvette that hadn't been paying attention to slam into the now-unshielded Heavy Frigate. The other corvette pulled up at the right time and continued trailing the Angel, but as for their attempted shots with their plasma weaponry that were aimed at the Andios's ship...they had a new target.

Green spheres of plasma burrowed into the hull of the Heavy Frigate, causing the surface to boil and crackle like a burning marshmallow. These spheres detonated inside the hull seconds after, sending three massive green explosions flowering out the hull of the Heavy Frigate as it ultimately burst into a miasma of violet, green, blue, and white flames soon after, briefly producing a new star in the rather empty system before dissipating.

Jenkins stopped bracing for impact. "Holy shit.. did we just—"

"No time for comment, Jenkins," Colin nodded, turning to Andios. "That's two ships down, but we've still got a corvette and a Cruiser to deal with."

Andios nodded in response. "Cut the main engines, keep us drifting for a little, but activate our maneuvering thrusters and reorient ourselves one eight zero degrees. Execute now. Engage the corvette immediately when in range."

The Angel, still moving forwards due to momentum, performed a clean 180-degree turn to face the corvette currently trailing it, whose continued existence still boggled Andios after his order to engage it went out. The Angel gathered a veritable gold orb of of energy on its prow as one of the heavy particle cannons charged a beam, the turret aimed straight at the small, light ship. An orange beam of energy shot across space, producing a deep surgical incision across the corvette's shields—and later hull—on its first passover, before ultimately cutting the enemy ship clean in half on the other, resulting in a flowery orange explosion. The beam cut off and dissipated, and the Angel pushed on, moving through the now debris-filled space silently.

"We're getting overheating in the engines," Engineering reported.

"Vent the heat from the particle accelerator cannon," Andios replied, watching the thick white vapor extrude from various pores across the ship. The Angel then became abruptly silent as the Engines remained powered off, cooling down after being on overdrive for almost ten minutes. No one said anything until Jenkins prematurely began to cheer. "Ho-lee shitbuckets, boss! That was the most brilliant ship killing spree I've ever witnessed! All enemy contacts eliminated! We've won!"

“Nah,” Andios simply said as he returned to his chair , watching a rather large planetoid come into view in front of them, briefly blocking the Angel's view of the enemy cruiser. “This isn't over yet, guys. We've still got one last ship to take out, the big one. Astrid, status on our charge for the PAC?”

"Fifty nine percent and rising, Captain. All other weapons are ready to fire, on demand." the AI answered crisply. Andios sat back down, resting his elbows on his command chair's armrest. In a full broadside, they had zero chances of survival, nor did he have any real ways of hurting the shields aside from the PAC beam and the MORAYs. "Ready both PAC turrets and all of our other weapons. Fire up our thrusters again to get us in front of that cruiser. Let's hope it takes the bait."

A rumble resonated throughout the ship as its maneuvering thrusters fired, allowing it to pick up enough speed for its main engines to put it back into combat speed. Its pulse laser point defense guns kept firing in an attempt to destroy the incoming plasma artillery launched by the cruiser, which slammed into the nearby planetoid, causing it to detonate and pepper each ships' shields with tiny space rocks. The Angel's own plasma bolts fired at the cruiser did negligible damage to its shields, but Andios quickly found himself moving from the offensive to the defensive as he saw a blue light gather on a long barrel on the front of the Blackstar, outlined with orange streaks in the bottom of the barrel.

If a shotgun racking was the universal sign to kiss your ass goodbye, then a blue and orange light fathering in the front of a ship was the universal sign to kiss your ship goodbye.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!! Divert power to shields NOW!" Andios hollered, fearing it was already too late as the thunderous yet silent boom of the enemy cruiser's mass accelerator cannon firing shook space. A large, glowing tungsten slug crashed through several of the asteroids silently, practically knocking the Angel off course and completely shattering its shields as it slammed into the ship, and nearly sending Andios flying. Had there not been any asteroids to buffer the tungsten rail accelerated sabot, it would've been a one-hit kill situation, with the cruiser ending the Angel's existence in one fell swoop.

Now, Andios was pissed the hell off. The cruiser executed another tactical jump, teleporting in front of the Angel's path out of the asteroid belt, coming into view in the front viewport. Red flashes flickered across its hull as the pulse laser turrets charged, while tiny dots of green appeared along its lateral sides. It was preparing a full broadside of pulse lasers and plasma bolts.

There was also something else there, aside from the enemy cruiser, that was too small to be seen on the viewscreen without zooming further in or squinting one's eyes: the nest of MORAY mines. True to Andios's suspicions, he had launched them in the opposite direction of the fighting and finally baited the Cruiser into entering their minefield. As the Angel initiated its highly-dangerous maneuver of grazing and later destroying the Heavy Frigate and the two corvettes, the MORAYs had fulfilled their burns and drifted into a web in the belt—a web which the Angel had effectively snagged the cruiser in.

Andios smirked arrogantly, "Idiots. Time to blow these bastards to smithereens."

He then tapped his command console and sent the signal to detonate the mines.

The viewscreens on the bridge automatically polarized to prevent the crew from being blinded by the ensuing explosions. There was first a flash of blue, then white, then a flash of electricity, as the cruiser vanished in a white orb of energy made up from the clump of nuclear mines. Waves of energy impacted the recharging shields of the Angel, briefly producing a rainbow miasma on the viewscreen and over the shields before cutting off the shields entirely from the resulting EMP, causing the ship to be disabled temporarily and drift for a few moments, before power suddenly kicked back on. The enemy cruiser, on the other hand, was not so lucky. As the cloud of fire expanded and cooled, it revealed a mess of mangled and burnt metal, along with the now capsizing crusier, all of its lights off as it could do nothing but sit in the graveyard of glassy, broken asteroids it had walked right into.

"Particle cannons are back at one hundred percent," Astrid said. "Ready to fire."

Andios's order was crisp and quick: "Fire."

Deadly orange fingers of energy stretched themselves across space, headed straight for the doomed enemy cruiser. The two beams from the particle cannon turrets struck both the forward and aft of the ship from the side, punching straight through to the other end and crisscrossing one another, before both beams sliced back into the reactor of the Cruiser. This set off a chain explosion, detonating the cruiser like a balloon, with the end result neither resembling ship nor debris: just a mangled mass of flaming metal in space... a frigate circling its remains.

Andios relaxed, flopping backwards into his seat as the crew in the command center cheered, congratulating themselves for their victory. The Feli freelancer then turned to Astrid, chuckling. "So much for getting 'torn to pieces by a pirate cruiser,' eh?"

"Respectfully, fuck you, captain." Jenkins, red in the face, dismissed himself as Astrid's avatar re-appeared before him. Andios laughed, folding his arms as Astrid's avatar sat on his lap, her digital tail coiling around his. Andios's attention was away from the AI and more towards the NAV Tank, and the holoscreen that reappeared, Geta clapping at the results.

"Looking at this destroyed assortment of pirate ships before me.." Andios paused, thinking. "Alright, here's what I need, everyone. I need an after action report and a damage report from our ship and.." He paused, for dramatic effect. "A bottle of Sunset Ale. Make it snappy."

"Bravo.." Geta said from the screen, grinning once more. "I'll forward the payment to your account, as well as the coordinates for my new station. While I'm at it, I've sent some invites out for some new crew...some not from this world."

"Whatever the case, I'll need some new people onboard, maybe for ground missions," Andios explained. "That'll be all."

"Right. I'll see you in a bit." The transmission ended, Andios's attention now focused on Astrid, the AI looking at him a certain way. "Now... why are you giving me that kind of look, Astrid...?"

[Europa Undivided]

Stranger Times
1941

It is the year 1941. These are dark times.

The unstoppable German blitzkrieg has crushed almost all of continental Europe under its iron boot. The madman, the short fool with a silly moustache that makes him look a greater fool than what he seems to be that leads the Third Reich has begun to believe that his dream of uniting all German peoples under the Aryan banner, whilst the lesser races are all to die and be extinguished from the face of the Earth. Even the great nation of France, that once mighty bastion of democracy that fought like lions in the First World War, has fallen to the Wehrmacht. Only two nations remain on Europe to stand in defiance against the German war machine.

Sequestered on an island and protected by the foreboding waters of the English Channel and the North Sea, the United Kingdom of Great Britain stands defiantly against the madman of Germany across the channel. The bombs of the Luftwaffe fall upon London every night, driving the British people to the safety of bunkers and subway stations. And yet, Britain will never surrender. Prime Minister Winston Churchill urges the British people to fight on. Thus he said this in June 4, 1941, at the wake of the evacuation on Dunkirk.

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Britain hoped for the United States to come to its rescue in due time, but America merely replied with trade in weapons and supplies. War will not come to the United States, nor will they come to it. For now.

In the east, the Soviet Union faces the onslaught of the German sledge hammer called Operation Barbarossa. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers are surrounded, captured, or killed as 3 million German descend upon Russia. All the while this happens, Stalin closes his ears and buries his head in the sand, ignoring the plight of the Soviet Union.

For a time.

June 27, 1941
London

It is 11:00 AM in London. It was business as usual in the capital of the British Empire. There was nothing out of the ordinary, other than the foreboding feeling of an impending German invasion of British shores. The Prime Minister had said 23 days before in a speech in the House of Commons that Adolf Hitler had plans for a full invasion of Britain and the subjugation of the Center of a world spanning empire.

Still, the people of London, and the United Kingdom as a whole, we’re confident that the Allied nations would win in the end. These people were defiant and did not think highly of the madman of Germany. Britain will never surrender. As long as the hope that the United States of America will lend its might unto the war effort endured, the war, they believed, will end in favour of democracy and the Allies...

1:30 PM, Westminster Abbey

At first, no one knew what it was. Initially, all there was a strange feeling for the people walking around the medieval church, as if time was... stretched. It felt like time slowed down.

Then, it appeared. It is, as it what it was called in other universes, a rift. A blue green portal appeared right at the door step of the Westminster Abbey. Out of it stepped thirteen people.

The British recoiled in awe as the first to step out seemed like to be a medieval knight in full armor, but upon closer inspection, he was, in fact, closer to a medieval Korean soldier of the Joseon Dynasty. He brandished sleek and highly advanced silver armor, and following him were twelve men and women clad in black robes, who seemed to be members of some outlandish death cult.

Startled, the civilians screamed and fled, while soldiers and police quickly rushed into the scene.

“Bloody hell mate!”, one of them yelled to the others as they formed a circle around the silver warrior and his retinue of cultists. Pointing their guns at the strangers, one of them, their commander, stepped forward.

“Who are you?”, he asked.

The warrior did not answer with an answer. Rather, he asked his own question. “What year is this?”

“1941, matey, from what planet are you from?”

“Earth.”, came the reply.

The Metropolitan policemen and British soldiers looked at each other with confused glances as their commander shook his head in disbelief. “Mate, how did you get here? And what is with the weird outfit?”

“You asked me who I am, Captain William Jennings?”, the silver clad warrior replied strangely.

“How did you know my name?!”, the Brit said, drawing his pistol. “Identify yourself already!”

“I am Grand Admiral Yi Sun-shin of the Terran Federation Armada in the year 4500.”, he answered.

The British exchanged another set of confused glances before another of them stopped forward. “The Yi Sun-shin? The one who defeated 300 Japanese ships with just 12 ships in a battle five centuries?”

“If you are referring to my equivalent in this dimension, yes. I am.” He turned to Jennings. “This is London, correct?”

“You be right, mate.”

“And the continent has fallen to Germany, correct?”

“Most of it, bloody yes.”

Sighing, Yi pressed a button somewhere, and his armor dissembled itself, compacting into what looked like suitcase. Under the armor was a surprisingly fitting outfit with the current times; a black coat, grey pants, and black boots. The British gasped. “Prime Minister Winston Churchill wouldn’t mind if he had some help from extradimensional entities, would he not?”

“Ahhh... I don’t know. Just... follow us as I contact my superiors.”, the captain answered.

A few hours later

Churchill chomped on a cigar, blowing out smoke within his office. He was curious about these... visitors. They were human, that was sure, but they are not merely human. They were something more. He knew it. He felt it. They cannot be German spies, as no Earthly technology could do what these visitors did, and besides, three of the twelve others were confirmed to have Jewish ancestry. No way that the angry madman of Germany would allow such people to have such important jobs in the Reich.

Then he arrived. The wooden door opened quite slowly, but it revealed what looked like to be a Korean man in his thirties, dressed in monochromatic black clothing. He was carrying a black suitcase, and was followed by two people, a man and a woman, each wearing a robe that looked like they were from strange Asian monastic sect.

“So, its you.”, Churchill said. “It seems you know about me and this world before you came here in a...”

“Portal.”, Yi finished. “I have been to worlds like these before.”

“So.”, Churchill chuckled. “There are a thousands of Winstons out there?”

“Possibly more, sir.”, Yi answered.

“Let us begin with a question, then.”, Churchill said to the admiral. “Why are you here? Why do you offer your help to us?”

“I’d like to know the answer myself, Prime Minister.”, Yi replied. “These rifts are unpredictable. We were headed somewhere else, but we got sent here... which leads me to the second question. We want to help you... because... it is the right thing to do. I have seen the evil that the Third Reich has done elsewhere. If possible, I would like to help in minimising that.”

“Good.”, Churchill answered. “So how will you help us?”

“Well, sir, obviously in battle. However, I sense and predict that others are coming. Others from... other dimensions.”

“Fascinating.”, Churchill said. “Very well, then. Your... company will stay here in London for the time being until we can properly introduce our new allies to the people, unless if that is what you are planning.”

“Just the first part, but the second is Welcome, sir Churchill.”

Little did they know that the “others” will be quite close soon...

[Prusselanden]

L-Fel

Iowa

"Innocents? What, were those rabid humans test subjects against their will or something?" Irwin asked Frederick, looking over at the Prussian. He did not quite consider that, and if he'd been informed of it, well, it must've gone over his head. He thought about that for a moment. His old government back home had done some experiments like that on people as well, hoping to make them more adaptable as climate change took hold. Since, of course, biologically changing people is easier than using a recycling bin. He rummaged through some of his equipment, then pulled out a syringe.

"Well lads, we can't just do nothin' about those blokes. For the ones being mind controlled, or extorted, or whatever is going on, why don't we just knock them out and send em’ off to somewhere safe?” He said, showing off the syringe. A glistening liquid sat inside of it, ready to temporarily paralyze anyone it was injected into.

San Fran

“I’ve got quite a few, I’m not sure which I should send out though,” Aestus told Jules. Despite being in a public establishment watched by a lot of people, he decided to let his animals out. A swarm of various marine animals poured out from his armor, with creatures ranging from small sharks to a flying cloud of krill hovering around Aestus and Jules. The small epaulette shark from earlier went over to Jules, and started playing with some of her hair.

“This little bugger has been pretty good for stealth. He can glide a little bit like a crab in water, and his claws can cut through steel easily. Most importantly though, I can see and talk through him, so we’ll know what the others are doing,” Aestus said, pulling out a feisty looking crab. The bright orange crab splayed its arms widely, and used its back legs to “swim” in the air, through it was more of a glorified hop. It had two big eyes, both of which were trained at Jules.

"Apparently." Frederick looked at Irwin. "But you'd have to get close enough to shoot the syringe into them, correct?" he gestured to Irwin's needle."Unless you have some sort of blowdart or something."

"Wait I can just teleport us all to somewhere else." Frederick realized and took off his hat. "Chapeau's awake."

"Yessir!" The hat said. "That I am!"

"But I don't know where to go. I haven't had any further instructions from Time, yet."

"....I want to go see the ocean!" Ackermann suddenly said, seemingly changing in demeanor. "Let's go there!"

"Yeah, I suppose San Francisco wouldn't be bad." Frederick looked around. "We go there, we recuperate, and we come back to clean up this mess. Plus, I feel we'll find something there." He put Chapeau back on. "Aright, Irwin, come in close. We're heading to California."

Ackermann jumped down from the tree.

San Fran
"Alright, he'll be perfect!" Jules giggled as the shark played with her hair. She pulled him off gently and set him on the table, rubbing his belly. "This dude will be our agent." She lightly booped him on the top of her head. "Won't you?"

[The Japanese Americans]

The Great Wizarding Rebellion
-snip-

The Great Wizarding Rebellion
AEGIS Base, unknown location
-snip-

Well, shit. There was another enemy. A big one. Probably a demon. Lee was pissed now. He was in pain and he was having to fight. Oh great, now there were three enemies. Lee was fed up with this. He was past pissed. "WHY! DOES! EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! I THINK! IT'S! GOING! TO! BE! EASY! FROM! HERE-ON-OUT! A FUCKING! ENEMY! POPS! UP!" He punctuated nearly every single word by throwing any nearby debris at the giant satyr. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" He panted a bit from the exertion of yelling.He turned to a Kremling suddenly. "I'm staying to fight. Besides, my magic is back now. I think a well-aimed shot at the knees should knock that satyr down."

---

The deer heard his yells and roar in response while the Satyr turn him as he locked blades with the tengu, the scrap of concrete thrown only getting the demon's attention towards Lee. With the Satry not looking Tenzna punched the demon in the face and disengage, using his spear to slice st the satyr's chest.

As the tengu flew back he would shout. "Whatever demons are like in your world forget it. The ones in my world are not like yours. This thing will be destroy you human." He warned as the satyr held his chest. The blood began to bubble up as steam came off, the blood boiling on it's own. The tengu would see the blood going back as the wound he inflicted was repairing itself. "You're gonna need to try harder to kill me." The demon taunted as he made a gesture for the yokai to strike at him.

The tengu flew up and once was at the right hieght dive down to strike but the satyr was caught to react as he jump in the air and uppercut him on the chin, stunning him ad he was lift up in the air and flew down. The demon began to twirl hid blade as he walked forward to stab the downed tengu.

---

Based on what Lee had observed so far, it was likely that they would probably have to completely destroy their bodies. While he was thinking this, he had already started running toward the tengu, intent on getting him out of range of the satyr. As he ran he pointed towards one of the knees of the satyr and started repeating, "Spinning Mana Arrows! Spinning Mana Arrows!" And as he repeated this, about six or seven arrows made of energy appeared around him and launched themselves every time he said it. Their spinning increased their peircing abilities, and since they were made of mana, they exploded barely a moment after contact.

---

The Satyr sensed Lee channeling his magic before he launched his mana arrow. As the spinning arcane arrows flew towards the demon a bunch of debris was pulled towards the satyr as they were lift I and went in front of the demon, shielding him from the arrows.

As the arrows made contact with the debris Tenzma used the distraction to get up and run away, staggering due to feeling dazed by the uppercut. Should one of the arrows go through the sheets of metal the demon would deflect the project the attack with his sword.

---

Well, time to switch tactics. Since the tengu was out of the way, he didn't need to run now. He ran backwards to what he thought was a safe distance away while still yelling his spell. Now, what could he do? Would a Mana Bomb work? But the satyr could regenerate, so maybe it would be best to strike the central nervous system. Cut off the head of the snake, as the saying goes. He cut off his yelling and shifted his posture. Palm outstretched towards the satyr, legs spread apart for balance. A relatively small ball of mana appeared from his palm, and started spinning at an incredible speed. The total time he could hold it was ten seconds, pouring more mana into it and increasing it's speed. Now was the perfect opportunity for the enemy to counterattack as he was charging up his, as he very well knew.

---

The satyr saw the sphere and sensing the trap choose instead to look towards the tengu. As the demon charged towards the tengu it felt that it can ignore Lee fir the time being as it felt nine of his spells can harm him. Tenzma was now feeling better and just in time to see the demon coming towards him. He snsrked at the approaching demon as he readied his spear. He would fly towards it and as the distance grew closer both he and the demon would send out their strikes, intending to kill the other in a single blow.

Battle Music

The clang of metal on metal tang out from the courtyard as Tenzma blocked the blade with the pole arm of his spear. His arms wobbled slightly as he can feel the infernal satyr forcing more of his strength to force the blade down upon the yokai's head. Yet the old tengu pressed his feet on the concrete ground and began to push back.

As the metal of the sword scrap against the polearm sparks would fly out as the two jump back. Twirling the spear with surprising fitness and hand to eye coordination he would soon grab the spear and thrust the blade to the demons head with the satyr dodging his head to the left and bringing a fist to Tenmza's chest, however the older tengu saw the attack and would quickly twist his spear so the pole hit the demons firearm and pull the arm to grazing on his left chest side.

Tenmza flinch from the pain as the demon was incredibly strong and would have shattered his ribs if the bow connected on its intended target, where his heart and lungs were. Tenmza's brief reprieve would end as the demon would push his firearm to the opposite direction to push the spear with it, making the tengu trip up slightly as the demon rose up his blade and brought it down on him.

The tengu was quick to regain his footing as he stopped on the ground, his muscles and bones being reinforced with Qi that he was channeling for the fight made him stomp a small crater around his feet as he cracked the concrete. He would bring his spear and would have the blade slide across the pole but have the spear be pulled away from his head, unfortunately the blade tore through one of his wings.

Sparks flew as the blade scraped against the spear and blood joined it as the blade easily cut through bones and flesh. Yet even with the pain Tenzma continue on as he  would deliver a punch to the Satyr crown jewels, making the large demon roar in pain. He would deliver two more punches to the same spot until the demon had enough and would kick the tengu on to the ground.

Tenzma looked up and saw the demon was going to drop down to stab him with the spike on its elbow. He would roll away as the demon stabbed the ground with his elbow spike, he would roll to try to use the other but the tengu manage to keep on rolling to dodge even that. The tengu would quickly get up and bring his spear down to stab the demon on his forehead but the satyr quickly blocked the attack with his sword, deflected the blow away as he would crouch his legs up and hop back to his feet.

The demon would turn around to face the tengu as he stomped towards him,  twirling the double bladed sword as he did so.

---

The ball of Mana was now the size of a small house, and the pressure exerted from its spinning was incredible. Lee had poured half of his mana into it. The ten seconds had almost passed. But to make sure it would hit, Lee grabbed his own body with his telekines and launched himself towards the satyr, who had his back turned. The ball was still suspended in front of his paml. Ten seconds. "Spinning Mana Bomb!" The ball launched, heading towards the demon at what seemed like a slow speed because of its size. It would strike the satyr right on the head if he didn't do anything, and would probably still do some major damage if he blocked it.

---

The Satyr sensed the attack coming towards him and still not thinking much on it would bring his blade in front of the path towards the sphere to block it. However as the sphere made contact with the blade not only woukd the blade be shattered into pieces but when the sphere made contact with the back of his head Tenzma saw the demon's head, neck, and parts of his shoulder and chest explode into a shower of blood and gore, some splattering on him.

The demon dropped his sword as the body fell to its knees before collapsing on to its left side, some of the spikes on the demons back stabbing through the ground. The tengu looked at the body with weariness instead of shock or joy. He suspect that this apperant essy victory wasn't real, that the demon was setting them up for a trap.

---

Lee was filled with joy, unlike the tengu, at the apparent defeat of the satyr. Then he remembered that he was still flying through the air. After a brief moment of panic that almost made him smack into the ground, he stopped his momentum a meter from the ground. Releasing his grip on himself, he landed on the ground. Then his skepticism kicked in. "Did we win? And weren't there two other enemies?"

---

Tenzma looked at Lee as he snorted. "I don't know? Some demons may stay down from an attack like that but for others losing their head doesn't do much to them." He told the mage. Almost to prove a point several metal burst from the ground and impaled Lee.

The tengu would saw the body began to move as steam was coming from the empty spot where it's head was, muscles, tissue, and bones growing to fill in the empty space made by Lee as it got up, leaving behind the spikes that impaled Lee on the ground. The tengu took on a defensive postion as the headless demon summon an identical copy of his blade while walking towards him, new spikes growing from his back.

---

"Fuck! That hurts!" He yelled, somehow still alive despite being impaled. He levitated one of his unbroken health potions and downed it to recover his HP. He regretted what he was about to do since it would hurt so much. He gripped his body with his telekinesis once more, and tore his body off of the spikes. Anyone watching would immediately notice the fact that he had absolutely no wounds on his body, not even a speck of blood.As soon as he stopped, he grabbed another health potion and downed it. "Fuck. That was a good move, but not effective against me." This time he learned from his mistake, and kept moving around randomly. "So, you need your whole body destroyed, eh? I should've known something was hinky when I didn't level up."

---

Kiara, at last, rose up from behind an armored car and fired two needles filled with her own blood into the rising demon's torso. The darts hit home but did not pierce the creature's flesh, instead embedding themselves in its leathery skin with dual dull thuds. She slammed the heel of her shoe into the car's door immediately thereafter, causing it to skid across the ground and slam into the satyr, forcing the needles' points into its body. She didn't know what her blood would do it nor how great a risk there was that it would turn her own abilities against her allies but she knew that without changing their course of attack the team would be unable to take it down. She ran and skidded behind another car, keeping a low profile and watching out for further unexpected attacks. "We won't be able to kill it the way that we're operating right now. Reduce it to giblets, I can burn it out of the narrative!" With her inheritance of The Spark, she could now excise her enemies from the story itself. However, she couldn't do such a thing to particularly large or particularly important objects. The demon would have to be dismembered and incinerated bit by bit in order to put it down for good.

---

The headless demon didn't react to Lee's survival as it brought its blade down at Tenzma who blocked the attack as he moved back. When Kiara threw her needles they too brought no reaction to the demon as it it made a swift wide slash to severe the tengu's legs. Tenzma jump back as the blade sliced through the ground. The demon brought his blade to the side as he began to spin it again as he followed the retreating yokai.

But as the armored car door was sent towards the demon and hit it, forcing the needles through his skin and injecting the girl's blood into him. The demon stopped as it turn towards where the door came from. The broken blade would suddenly fly towards where Kiara was in an attempt to stab her, unaware that its attack was wasted. Sensing the vibration of her voice and movement the blade would change direction in its flight and begin to fly towards her.

---

Completely destroy it? Difficult but probably doable. Another Spinning Mana Bomb would probably get it close to giblets. But Lee didn't have enough MP to pour into another one right now. "I'm gonna need a few minutes to recover my mana! Until then, I can't do another Spinning Mana Bomb!" Seeing as how he could probably do it without much effort, he stopped his movement for a moment and grabbed onto the blade heading towards Kiara with his telekinesis.

---

"Nice catch!" Kiara called out, perhaps having forgotten that far too much was at stake here to be throwing quips. She wasn't just trying to keep her homeworld alive she was also attempting to reclaim Skye's corpse. Even though it had been reduced to nothing but red paste and a partial skeleton she still felt an obligation to retrieve her friend's cadaver - or whatever remained of it. She vaulted onto the roof of the car which she had been using as cover and leapt onto the sword, balancing on its blade as she smacked it with an open palm. Immediately, incandescent flames began to gobble at the metal. Slivers of light began to run across its surface as it was slowly reduced to literally inconsequential ash. She landed on the ground, withdrew her rifle and flicked the sword that had once belonged to Skye from its sheathe. Like an acrobat she somersaulted through the air and landed on the colossus' shoulder. She forced the tip of the blade into the colossus' shoulder and clung to its hilt with both hands as she attempted to force it to one side, digging into the demon's cartilaginous stumps and prying apart its joint like she was attempting to open a crate with a crowbar.

---

As the assassin plunged her blade into the nearly stone-like hide of the demon she would see blood began to ooze out from it's open wound. She would smell something burning and see that the blood was producing steam as it was sizzling, the blood now taking on properties of sulfuric acid.

The more she cut into it the more of the acidic blood would be released. She would see a large blood bubble forming, with its size it was clear it was in the verge of exploding in front of her and splashing her with the blood. Worse still was that the neck was fully remade and the lower jaw was being made, the demon's head was half way from being reconstructed.

---

"Thanks!" Immediately after saying that, he threw himself in random directions with his telekinesis once more. What could he do now? He didn't have enough MP yet, and he couldn't do much without it... Hold on, what about meditation? That would increase his MP recovery, but he couldn't stay in one place for long. Then he realised, and flung himself high into the air, higher than the crashed helicopters had gone. As he reached the highest point, he crossed his legs and took the position most people think of when meditation is mentioned. Calm thyself, breath in through the nose, and out the mouth to fuel superhuman abilities. As gravity pulled him down and down, his MP increased to fuel. He slowed himself to a stop at ten meters off the ground. He took the stance again. The Mana Bomb appeared again, and repeated the same things as last time. But this time, he aimed at the lower torso. And this time, he tried his best to pour his all into this attack.

---

As Lee meditated amongst the clouds Kiara continued to cling to the demon's back. The pustule swelled and burst beneath her feet, showering her in boiling orange putty. However, clearly, the demon's internal physiology was far less hostile than her own. She didn't so much as blink or flinch as it showered her in acid, instead taking the opportunity to relocate the scales on the back of her hand toward her knuckles, forming a long and narrow needle. She forced it into the raw flesh which had been exposed after the pustule's eruption - the demon's attempt to dislodge her had only served to remove a patch of its skin - and weaved her macrodermis throughout its bloodstream. She used her prehensile skin to tear at its nerves and joints, attempting to destroy it from the inside where it was most vulnerable. Seeing that its head was beginning to reform, she drew her axe and hacked at the beast's lower jaw.

---

Seeing the woman still on the demon made him hesitate a bit. "Hey! I'd suggest that you get away from there when I launch this! Now might be a good time, too."

---

Kiara lodged the axe in the demon's skull, hoping that it would at least get in its way as it regenerated. She left the remnants of her macrodermis inside its arm which bulged in certain places where the branches that she'd made out of her own skin had attempted to pierce the demon's outermost layer. She fell to the ground, rolled and slipped underneath a truck.

---

Good, she was out of the way, and he just realised that the ten seconds were up. The ball of mana was a bit bigger than the last one. Noticeable, but not majorly bigger. He had used almost seventy percent of his mana. "Spinning Mana Bomb!" And as it launched, he yanked himself back. This was going to be a big one.

---

The Kremlings simply stood there gawking. "Wait a minute, they're leaving to help fight?! You'll get killed!"

Meanwhile, K. Rool looked on from the command center of the Flying Krock, silently deciding what he should do. he turned to one of the many crew members. "I want you to fire upon those creatures. Wait until my order."

"You got it boss."

K. Rool took a few seconds to contact Doug. "I have decided to stay and fire upon the three creatures. My airship has more firepower than you do anyway."

"Fair enough, it's pretty annoying that some people decided to help. Looks like the satyr is dead though. Maybe not, I dunno it's chaotic right now."

"Yes it is."

Doug noticed the airship slowly turning to face the three creatures, and several hatches opened up, the metal glint of what appeared to be miniguns and missiles just visible.

"How much firepower do you have?"

"A lot."

K. Rool then gave the order to fire.

Doug watched from his fighter as the airship started to unleash it's arsenal upon the three creatures, then decided that he would join in. After performing a very quick weapons check, he flicked various switches, pressed a few buttons, and started to unleah his own weapons, starting with one Valoo missile, then another, then started firing the laser cannons.

---

As the axe lodge itself on the the skull the axe went through the bone, but it didn't slow the regeneration as new bones simply grew around the wound. As the nerves and joints were severed the demon stopped moving, standing in place as its body began to shiver and shake, becoming a jittering mess. Blood began to squirt out like a fountain from its wound as it still tried to burn her. Each damage made only resulted in her seeing more if it's body repairing itself, albeit with some patches growing tumors and strange growths like horns and vestigial appendages like undeveloped hands or even eyes.

The demon did nothing as the sphere hit it, the sphere tearing through the demonic hide until it exploded, blowing its body into million pieces. Tenmza covered his eyes with his arms and felt something heavy hit his shoulder with such force it broke it, the thing was the demon's arm. Lee would see one of it's back spike flying towards him while Kiara would get three spikes flying towards.

Music

The goat mage saw apperant demise of the satyr and turn to see the airship aiming its canons at it and the deer . As missiles and slugs flew towards it the skeleton of Skye stretched her arms out and suddenly the missiles and lasers stopped in their track, remaining suspended in the air. Rifts would open and the lasers will go through them as the mage sent the missiles and slugs back the airship and at Doug's fighter.

---

Letting himself fall, Lee grabbed onto the spikes with his telekinesis and threw them upwards one by one. "I am not fucking falling for that again." He grabbed and threw himself up again, making sure he didn't touch the ground. Seeing the tengu with his shoulder broken, Lee thought of what he could do to help when he remembered that he had a Skill Book specifically for healing. "Inventory." He reached in and grabbed the book. Not even waiting for the prompt, he said, "Skill Acquire! Man, I love shortcuts." The book disintegrated into tiny bits of gold light and fused into his body, granting him use of the Skill as he fell to the ground. Using his telekinesis, he landed by the tengu. "Here, let me heal that. I don't know if it'll actually mend the bone fully, but it should." He waited patiently for the tengu to give an answer.

---

Kiara shoved the truck off herself as soon as the aftershock subsided. The ground was scarred and covered in deep lacerations which radiated from the spot where the demon had once stood, arranged as if a massive wolf had dragged its teeth through the soil. She made no motions, her eyes simply flared and the cloud of ash that the satyr had been reduced to began to incandesce - dimly at first, then growing into a crescendo of narrativistic flames. Its story was purged from reality and for a moment, everyone who could bear witness - whether through sight, sound or any other sensation - was flooded by the story of the demon. Its past invaded their minds and eyes and informed them of every minute detail about its life; where it had come from, where it had been, where it would've gone if not for its death... and then it was forgotten. Nobody but Kiara herself knew that it would exist, nor would anyone ever know that it had existed ever again. The hurricane of fire faded and Kiara blinked through the haze, only realizing that she'd been attacked when she looked down at her torso and spotted three long spines sticking from her side. Her organs had been pulverized. Worse still: her body was covered in her own blood. She fumbled and extracted the spikes and buried them in the ground in a panic. Her kit contained a tube full of sterile sealant and so she applied it to the wound and all the flesh around it, sealing in the blood behind a layer of stiff white plastic.

---

Douf rolled his ship to the right as the missiles and lasers rebounded back towards him, the weapons sailed overhead and were struck by the airship's apparent self defense system.

"Mind telling me how long you've had that?"

"A while, any ideas as to how we fight these things?"

Doug surveyed the battle below silently for a moment. "You aren't. I am. On foot."

With that, Doug flew his fighter towards the airship and then landed on the ground below it, got out, locked everything up, then had K. Rool pull his fighter back into the small hangar bay. Doug then checked everything over on his person before he heard something crack next to him; the source of the noise was Madi.

"...How...How did you..." His voice trailed off in confusion and Madi simply grinned.

"What? I just apperated down here. Oh, sorry, you didn't know I could basically teleport, did you? Well, now you know."

The Witch flicked a wrist and watched as a white-blue flame appeared in the palm of her right hand, if one looked close enough, the center of the flame was golden. "Huh. That's new. I guess eating demon ashes has some benefits."

"...Some?"

"Yeah. Like increased magic and stuff. Get behind me." With that, Madi stepped in front of Doug, ignored the pilot's protests, and started to throw various spells in the two remaining monsters' directions.

---

Lee watched the exp. and level ups roll in. That was four whole new levels adding twenty stat points. Then he realized that he had to have killed something big to get that many levels, so what did he kill? Eh, nevermind. All that mattered was that he add half to Int. and half to Wis. Total MP increased, and MP recovery increased. Nice. He turned his attention back to the tengu. "Seriously, do you want me to heal your shoulder or not?"

---

Tenzma looked at Lee when he made his request on helping him, glaring down at the man like a raptors staring at potential prey. Thankfully for Lee, the tengu only snorted as he looked away from the man. "Do whatever you want human. It won't change how I see your kind." The tengu told him.

As the spells went to the two demons most were simply deflected by the goat as it waved it staff to make the spells rebound away from them. The deer was breathing heavily and jus as it look it was going to charge towards the witch and pilot the mage moved it's enlarged, feminine, arm to stop it. The mage soon spoke in a language the two could not understand and worse the translation effect if the rift could not decipher for unknown reasons.

The deer snorted as it shook. The mage pulled out a crystal and began to chant in the strange language as it pointed the crystal at where the Satyr was and the crystal glow for a few minutes until it cease. A fiery rift would open behind the deer and the creature would look at the group one last time before walking through. The goat would look into the eyes of the two beings standing behind them. Suddenly the two would be assault by visions of a hellish realm, distracting them as the goat went to the portal.

---

As soon as Lee got approval, he grabbed onto the tengu's shoulder and said only one word. "Heal." Energy suddenly flowed into the tengu's body, mending the damaged flesh first. The it snapped the bones back in place and healed them in an instant. It, in fact, went further than the shoulder. It replaced any scar tissue with perfectly healthy tissue. What would be strangest about this was that it caused absolutely no pain to the tengu. "I don't care about whether or not it changes your view of humans. I just hope you realise that not all humans are bad."

---

Tenmza glanced down at him aw he felt his flesh being mended into place and his bones snapping back into proper order and fixing on their own, the tengu barely felt any pain coming the healing process which was a pleasant surprise. Once he was fully healed he began to move his arm around while rubbing his shoulder.

"Perhaps some of you are telling the truth on int being like the rest of your kind, a shame the majority don't share the same sentiments." He told Lee as he flapped his wing to test if it was in working order.

---

Lee seemed pleased with himself. "Good. And from what I learned when I acquired the Skill, it works universally, no matter the species, gender, or age of the patient. Besides, being a healer now, I can call myself a noble." He seemed even more pleased with himself with this fact, and possibly slightly amused.

---

The fact that neither one of them could understand the language the goat mage was speaking was a bit concerning; furthermore was the fact that the goat mage could give the two visions of some sort of hellish realm.

It was quiet, well, as quiet as it could be, under the current circumstances. Madi decided to teleport - she called it "apparating" everyone up to the airship and they seperated, Doug headed to the hangar bay to check on his ship while Madi headed for the command deck.

[Skylus]

(Image)

Stranger Times
1941

It is the year 1941. These are dark times.

The unstoppable German blitzkrieg has crushed almost all of continental Europe under its iron boot. The madman, the short fool with a silly moustache that makes him look a greater fool than what he seems to be that leads the Third Reich has begun to believe that his dream of uniting all German peoples under the Aryan banner, whilst the lesser races are all to die and be extinguished from the face of the Earth. Even the great nation of France, that once mighty bastion of democracy that fought like lions in the First World War, has fallen to the Wehrmacht. Only two nations remain on Europe to stand in defiance against the German war machine.

Sequestered on an island and protected by the foreboding waters of the English Channel and the North Sea, the United Kingdom of Great Britain stands defiantly against the madman of Germany across the channel. The bombs of the Luftwaffe fall upon London every night, driving the British people to the safety of bunkers and subway stations. And yet, Britain will never surrender. Prime Minister Winston Churchill urges the British people to fight on. Thus he said this in June 4, 1941, at the wake of the evacuation on Dunkirk.

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Britain hoped for the United States to come to its rescue in due time, but America merely replied with trade in weapons and supplies. War will not come to the United States, nor will they come to it. For now.

In the east, the Soviet Union faces the onslaught of the German sledge hammer called Operation Barbarossa. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers are surrounded, captured, or killed as 3 million German descend upon Russia. All the while this happens, Stalin closes his ears and buries his head in the sand, ignoring the plight of the Soviet Union.

For a time.

June 27, 1941
London

It is 11:00 AM in London. It was business as usual in the capital of the British Empire. There was nothing out of the ordinary, other than the foreboding feeling of an impending German invasion of British shores. The Prime Minister had said 23 days before in a speech in the House of Commons that Adolf Hitler had plans for a full invasion of Britain and the subjugation of the Center of a world spanning empire.

Still, the people of London, and the United Kingdom as a whole, we’re confident that the Allied nations would win in the end. These people were defiant and did not think highly of the madman of Germany. Britain will never surrender. As long as the hope that the United States of America will lend its might unto the war effort endured, the war, they believed, will end in favour of democracy and the Allies...

1:30 PM, Westminster Abbey

At first, no one knew what it was. Initially, all there was a strange feeling for the people walking around the medieval church, as if time was... stretched. It felt like time slowed down.

Then, it appeared. It is, as it what it was called in other universes, a rift. A blue green portal appeared right at the door step of the Westminster Abbey. Out of it stepped thirteen people.

The British recoiled in awe as the first to step out seemed like to be a medieval knight in full armor, but upon closer inspection, he was, in fact, closer to a medieval Korean soldier of the Joseon Dynasty. He brandished sleek and highly advanced silver armor, and following him were twelve men and women clad in black robes, who seemed to be members of some outlandish death cult.

Startled, the civilians screamed and fled, while soldiers and police quickly rushed into the scene.

“Bloody hell mate!”, one of them yelled to the others as they formed a circle around the silver warrior and his retinue of cultists. Pointing their guns at the strangers, one of them, their commander, stepped forward.

“Who are you?”, he asked.

The warrior did not answer with an answer. Rather, he asked his own question. “What year is this?”

“1941, matey, from what planet are you from?”

“Earth.”, came the reply.

The Metropolitan policemen and British soldiers looked at each other with confused glances as their commander shook his head in disbelief. “Mate, how did you get here? And what is with the weird outfit?”

“You asked me who I am, Captain William Jennings?”, the silver clad warrior replied strangely.

“How did you know my name?!”, the Brit said, drawing his pistol. “Identify yourself already!”

“I am Grand Admiral Yi Sun-shin of the Terran Federation Armada in the year 4500.”, he answered.

The British exchanged another set of confused glances before another of them stopped forward. “The Yi Sun-shin? The one who defeated 300 Japanese ships with just 12 ships in a battle five centuries?”

“If you are referring to my equivalent in this dimension, yes. I am.” He turned to Jennings. “This is London, correct?”

“You be right, mate.”

“And the continent has fallen to Germany, correct?”

“Most of it, bloody yes.”

Sighing, Yi pressed a button somewhere, and his armor dissembled itself, compacting into what looked like suitcase. Under the armor was a surprisingly fitting outfit with the current times; a black coat, grey pants, and black boots. The British gasped. “Prime Minister Winston Churchill wouldn’t mind if he had some help from extradimensional entities, would he not?”

“Ahhh... I don’t know. Just... follow us as I contact my superiors.”, the captain answered.

A few hours later

Churchill chomped on a cigar, blowing out smoke within his office. He was curious about these... visitors. They were human, that was sure, but they are not merely human. They were something more. He knew it. He felt it. They cannot be German spies, as no Earthly technology could do what these visitors did, and besides, three of the twelve others were confirmed to have Jewish ancestry. No way that the angry madman of Germany would allow such people to have such important jobs in the Reich.

Then he arrived. The wooden door opened quite slowly, but it revealed what looked like to be a Korean man in his thirties, dressed in monochromatic black clothing. He was carrying a black suitcase, and was followed by two people, a man and a woman, each wearing a robe that looked like they were from strange Asian monastic sect.

“So, its you.”, Churchill said. “It seems you know about me and this world before you came here in a...”

“Portal.”, Yi finished. “I have been to worlds like these before.”

“So.”, Churchill chuckled. “There are a thousands of Winstons out there?”

“Possibly more, sir.”, Yi answered.

“Let us begin with a question, then.”, Churchill said to the admiral. “Why are you here? Why do you offer your help to us?”

“I’d like to know the answer myself, Prime Minister.”, Yi replied. “These rifts are unpredictable. We were headed somewhere else, but we got sent here... which leads me to the second question. We want to help you... because... it is the right thing to do. I have seen the evil that the Third Reich has done elsewhere. If possible, I would like to help in minimising that.”

“Good.”, Churchill answered. “So how will you help us?”

“Well, sir, obviously in battle. However, I sense and predict that others are coming. Others from... other dimensions.”

“Fascinating.”, Churchill said. “Very well, then. Your... company will stay here in London for the time being until we can properly introduce our new allies to the people, unless if that is what you are planning.”

“Just the first part, but the second is Welcome, sir Churchill.”

Little did they know that the “others” will be quite close soon...

Doug
The Great Wizarding Rebellion
We're finally out of the base yay The Flying Krock aka K. Rool's airship; unknown location

Doug found the hangar bay sometime later, a few of the reptiles known as Kremlings decided to start talking to him about the airship they were in as he entered the hangar bay, and that the reptiles were interested in his space fighter. however, before he could start talking to them, a massive rift opened up and scked him and his fighter through it, then, it was gone.

---

Somewhere Else

Doug was in complete freefall, as in, he was falling from the sky towards the ground. His fighter was underneath him, and was coming closer by the second. Just as the rift closed behind him, Doug slammed into the glass cockpit of his fighter and spent a few perilous seconds throwing the hatch open, strapping himself into the seat, closing the hatch, powering up the engines and ended up stopping the freefall of his ship.

The craft hovered in the air, and Doug could finally try to figure out where he was. The readings told him he was in a city by the name of London, with the date being June 27th, 1941.

"Well, these people have to have an air force. I reckon I'll be contacted pretty soon...They might want to talk to my superiors, if they can reach them, of course."

[Naval Monte]

Secrets of the Raven

"Oh Ebony, what a truly creative insult. Not like no one else used that insult before or other goth related insults at me before. But I'm surprised My Immortal exists in your world." The witch gave her a smirk. "But don't act like you don't go after the lowest hanging fruit as well Jackie. We both go after any advantage we can find." She moved her arms up and had her fingers go between the gaps of the others as she began to stretch both her arms and her back as she moved her chest forward. The witch felt something popping back in place as she put down her arms.

She would lift one foot up and bend her knee to get her joints moving. The occultist wish she can get a short break, but looks like the redheaded goddesses don't want that. So they will have to be on the move. When Jackie mentioned about BonziBUDDY being a very old reference, as well as the last time she saw her gorilla the witch waved her hand in an unconcerned manner. 

"I feel confident it will be on top. The ghost arms might give it the range it needs to help counter the numbers advantage those guys have. Also,  BonziBUDDY is more of my teenage hood for me, the internet wasn't a thing back in my childhood. My mom had a computer for her job but the only thing I can use it for was to play games and sometimes do my homework on it, guess which of the two I enjoyed using it for?" She said with a chuckle.

Soon Jackie changed the subject to her having AIDS in high school and how no one would sleep with her before a cactus, the witch glared at her. "You realize I had a girlfriend right? So obviously I'm more attractive than a cactus.

As Elizabeth talked with Jackie the other members of the group were waiting for the time to move forward. Rolo was talking with Mai and Metis. "You two are sure about this?" The nordic runemaster asked with concern. Mai nodded. "Yeah, I can barely move in my current state and I don't want to leave Metis alone as she recovers. It's best if you just leave us and go ahead. We'll being keep each other company and protect each other if the Crimsonites tried to attack us." The firebrand assured.

Rolo still wasn't fully convinced but he knew that they would be at a disadvantage if they tried to carry them. He would the out stone tablets with runic engravings. "Use these if the cult tries to attack you. We will pick you two up after we have dealt with the cult." He told them as he gave the tablets to Mai. As the two agreed Rolo began to walk away, taking on tablet and applying to his hammer, causing more sparks to fly off it.

The group soon began to venture further into the tunnel, Mai and Metis staying behind as agreed.

As the group entered the tunnel the occultist would hear a question she wished not to hear; what to do with Andarta. The occultist detective was silent as the group went deeper to the tunnel, passing through the collection of gems that dotted the cavern walls and ceiling.

In her mind she wracked over which option was the best for Jackie? She should be blunt or say it gently? How much of the truth should she use? A little, some, or lie entirely? What was her full judgement on Andarta? Sure she gave her answer to the woman her objection to the genocide her plan will cause and it imprisoning humanity in a universe that will just die eventually with no escape unlike this one. But her opinion on the woman herself?

Elizabeth began to rub her face with her right hand before moving to her bangs. "Jack, I don't know. I seriously don't know what to do with that woman." Elizabeth told the former walking nuclear reactor.

"I can sympathize with her on wanting a paradise. One where everything we lost is returned. Where all of our shameful mistakes and actions are erased and we don't have to bare the burden of living with them. To finally be free from the ghosts and demons that haunts us. Fuck, if I met her after I lost Lorraine I would have joined her regardless of the cost and who I had to kill. All just to have her, my mother, my father, and everyone I lost back not back in my life. No, to have then all back a  life much better than the one I have now." 

The rest of the group was rather stun to silence at the confession coming from the witch. Truth be told so was Elizabeth, she wasn't planning on that. But she was knee deep in this rabbit hole so she can't get out of this so easily. Terry looked at her and the witch can knew what he was saying by that look alone. "You spared me because you were once in the same place I was. But you got off before you did something truly stupid." The witch frown as she look away from him.

"Besides, if we put the Final Nights into the mix than her rebuilding the universe to give it new life is ultimately the right thing to do, but it doesn't necessarily mean her universe is the right one to replace this world." She looked down at her right hand. "I'm a human being, yet magic runs through my veins as much as body. It makes up my bones and flesh as much as cells. My senses are not just intoned to it like most mages Jack, they are one with it. I could see the occult side to existence the day I was born." She raised her other hand.

"Men and monsters. Natural and supernatural. Normalcy and Anomalous." She moved her right up to point at her head. "I know what those words mean and the distinction between the two." She would place her other hand on her chest. "But in my heart I ne dr saw a difference between the two. How can I when in my whole life I lived side by side what is suppose to be two entirely different worlds. But isn't magic as real and natural as gravity and electromagnetism? Don't monsters have a wide range of intelligence and moral compass as humans? And can use humans also have abilities that sets us apart from other humans? As far as I see the distinction made, the separation between the two, is something that was entirely artificially made, one that if you ask me should never exist."

Wei would interrupt Elizabeth by asking "how your personal view of the Masquerade relates to whether you want to spare Andarta's life or not?" Making the witch stop in her tracks to turn to face the blood mage, glaring at him furiously. "I was getting to that, basdun." She turned around and resume her walk. "Right, before I was rudely interrupted. I don't see the two world being contradictory existences that either need to be segregated for all of eternity or to have one be erased for the good of the other. Maybe I'm naive for saying this but I think the two can coexist if we tried to make them." Her demeanor became more sullen when those words were uttered.

"But we got people like AEGIS who think most people will try to destroy the supernatural and themselves in trying to achieve the latter or they will destroy themselves by abusing the anomalous powers they have and than losing control. Than you have folks in the paranormal side afraid that exposure would have them all being experimented on, enslaved, and exterminated by humanity and some humans have the same fear as well.  You got others who want to keep the status quo because doing so benefits them more. After all if they can keep magic away from the masses they can still be powerful and they get to use the paranormal to sate whatever desires they have. And finally people want to destroy either the supernatural or normal world for whatever reasons they have"

A few from the Order looked at each other, feeling as though she was calling out the Order as they fell into three of the camps and some who are suspected to be in the last one. Wei once more asked for her how it once again relate to Andarta. Elizabeth once more quickly turn to face the sorcerer. 

"Cachau bant! I'm getting there you pen coc. Interrupt me again and I will shove my boot up your twll tin!" She snapped back, unaware bd most likely uncaring that she was reverting back to her native Welsh language as she berated the mage. Wei respectfully backed off but was confused by the meaning of some of her words, and why Terry was laughing about this. The former cult leader not only knew what she said to Terry but he found the whole exchange hilarious, if not also adorable on Liz's end on how she just slips back to her native language the more furious she gets. 

Berith looked down to Dawn. "Are these humans always like this?" He asked, starting to  feel some regret in agreeing to work with them. As the witch turn her attention once more to Jackie. "Andarta falls into the last camp, she thinks that if the supernatural was gone everything will be better. From my personal experience humans can be terrible without occult forces and entities being involved. Not only is her paradise going to result in a mass extinction of many but many others will be expunged and humanity will be trapped in that universe as there will be no rifts. What kind of utopia locks its occupants against their will?" 

Elizabeth slid her hands into her pants pockets. "I want to live in a utopia as much as anyone and I want the gods kicked out of this reality too but not at the expense of millions. I can't agree to any so called utopia that requires that many people to die. Yes, I said people. Not anomalies, not monsters, or freaks. But people."

Elizabeth took a deep breath and sighed. "Sorry for going on a tangent there. But your question isn't that simple and admittedly hits a subject pretty close to me. I can't say she is entirely evil, but she is a stubborn woman who is dead set on making sure the world changes to her paradise. She has one of the many curses that can befall mages, she is obsessed with her goal and she won't stop until it happens or she is dead.  It's gonna be extremely difficult to convince her to turn back." 

She gave Jackie a small smile. "But if you want me to try and convince her off her path I will try. I honestly don't like killing people unless I'm forced too. If we can end this without killing her then I will be satisfied with that conclusion to this nightmarish mess of a case." Elizabeth would have a far off look to her face after saying those words.

"It's almost over… it's felt like we have been on this case for over a year or more even though it's been like a month or two. I almost can't believe we are reaching the end to this case. Where did all that time go?" 

Elizabeth suspected Dawn to chime in but instead Wei spoke up again. "I think there is another similarity you and Andarta have Ashwood. You both want to believe that an impossible dream is achievable. You saw what is going to happen to us in the future. Either the future will give birth to those Reavers or the truth will start a war between the two sides that will end the world before the Final Nights does. Also you know that a mage like Andarta won't be convinced to give up her goals. You may not like the idea of taking her life but there is no other way, but if you want to stop her from killing half the world's population. "

Elizabeth was going to respond back but a rock would suddenly hit her on her forehead. The witch hissed in pain as she held her forehead, looking for what threw the rock and found the source standing on a rock. "Looks like we found your baby Jack."

---

Seeds of Anxiety

"Yeah I guess I got lucky there. Though disappearances in this town wouldn't be too unusual. This town is rather infamous for that." Shift in his seat as the car stop from another red light. "Hey you mind if I play some music right?"

After hearing the answer Denton would look through several stations until settling one playing a song he seems to like. They would stay in silence as they drove through more streets, going through more ancient looking buildings. "Bloody hell did time stop working in this place? I'm telling you if the town wasn't time capsule with a fancy university than it's legends and the strange shit that happens in it would be the only thing people would know about the town. It's a miracle everyone has access to electricity, let alone internet access."

The drive would be quiet again until Denton was forced to stop for a trolley.  "I mentioned that disappearance aren't unusual here right? Well that isn't the only thing that happens in here. Mysterious deaths and cult activities are said to happen here." He would turn down towards a bridge. 

"I would call bull on that especially with the cult nonsense, but me and my partner were called down because those dumb urban legends had some truth to them. Some bloody cult was kidnapping people and had them locked up somewhere to torture them for days or weeks before killing them and living their bodies out for the whole world to see. I would say that would be crazy on it's own but that is just the tip of the rabbit hole."

Dawnson would see a steel refinery plant from the front window,  they would past it and many other abandoned and run down industrial buildings and homes.

"Apparently the cult who did the killings also went on a similar murder spree back in the 70s and got away with it. The killings from that one affected the town so badly that the cops and some of the officials from the town council conspired to hide the truth from the public, they even hired private investigators just so they can find the cult before it became impossible to hide, which it did. They got exposed when an old chemical plant exploded and released toxic fumes into the town, killing 500 people. The media circus still hasn't died down and the town still has cops from other regions patrolling it as we comb through the ranks to find out who was guilty of the conspiracy." 

Denton sighed as he leaned forward. "If you ask me they should have come clean from the straight instead of acting like some sort of nefarious cult themselves. Some people think the cult itself infiltrated the police force and even swayed some council members to help hide them, both today and back in the 70s. I don't believe it personally but with what had happened I can't blame anyone for believing that, or for them thinking the town is both haunted and cursed. But the monster sightings, UFOs, and rifts to other worlds sound like bullshit to me."

The car would begin to slow down and it would stop in front of an older building that looks to be a mix of Victorian and Edwardian architecture. "Well, maybe the latter isn't too far fetched." He turned to face Dawnson. "After all, that is how we discovered you."
---

The man couldn't help but to let a smile from when Avarice asked where they will be working on nor resist the chuckle that came out from some of her suggested locations for a work room. The girls energetic disposition was honestly refreshing for a change. If there was one regret he had it was probably passing up the chance to have his own family.

Now with the nature of his work and the omnipresent danger of world ending anomalies besides the Final Nights he still feels he made the right call on never settling down and having kids, his marriage might not survive long if he stayed working with AEGIS and he wouldn't his kids to be alive to witness the world end in ways his own nightmares can never match. It was the right call to make back then and it is now, the lonely nights are worth it if it meant he save himself and others future heartbreak and horrors.

"Sorry Avarice but this facility doesn't have the budget for a holodeck, the England branch has been making for that request for years along several others in the United States sector, but so far none have gotten that last I heard. I can't speak of the Noospheric option but we do have a control room. But I won't say anymore on it. You will see it soon enough." He told her.

Just then Paige arrived and Avarice's interest quickly shifted to the woman and her book. The other receptionists watch on with slight pity towards the infernal thaumaturge for having to be stuck dealing with the bundle of perpetual energy yet glad that they were not the ones caught in her line of sight. 

Paige was stuck wondering why this very excitable woman child was in the foyer when she turned to see who was now the crazy woman's attention, Herbert and a normal looking bloke who she can feel from the pit of soul was not human like the woman. Either that, or the Chipotle she ate was now having an effect? 

"So you returned back to field work Herbert? I got to say you brought in a couple of oddballs?" The older man shook his head. "No Ms. Cosette, this break from the office is temporary. I would like to introduce to you Valerian and Avarice. Both are Anomalous Consultants we have asked to assist your division with your missions while you all are repairing yourselves." 

The woman looked over at the two, getting a good look at the two and feeling that something about the excitable woman felt… off. "So you recruited another freelancer to work for us, huh?" Paige extended her hand out. "My name is Paige Emery Cosette. But just call me Paige. So what can you guys do that got the talking monitors interested in placing you in England's armpit to work with us misfits?" 

Herbert made a fake cough. "Perhaps this discussion is best saved for later and in more private settings." Paige shrugged. "We don't have any guests besides these two so the whole building is private now." 

"Not for long. I heard Denton and McDowell nabbed another interdimmie in Ashville." The group would see a man in his late twenties or early 30s wearing a janitor uniform. His brown eyes look down at the floor as tuff of black hair came out from his cap. "From what I heard they found her pulling a gun on a would be robber in a shop, if she had met with real cops she would have been arrested on the spot." The janitor said.

The group would hear a car coming by and from the door they would see it stop. "Looks like they arrived." Herbert straighten his coat. "You want to see who they brought in Valerian?" Paige looked at the car with slight curiosity but stay quiet. She wasn't going to get involved unless ordered too. She didn't want to be here if whatever the two agents brought in was violent and tried to fight it's way to escape. Though she was obligated to stop such attempts… but at a safe distance so her spells can do most of the work.

[Europa Undivided]

(Image)

Stranger Times
1941

It is the year 1941. These are dark times.

The unstoppable German blitzkrieg has crushed almost all of continental Europe under its iron boot. The madman, the short fool with a silly moustache that makes him look a greater fool than what he seems to be that leads the Third Reich has begun to believe that his dream of uniting all German peoples under the Aryan banner, whilst the lesser races are all to die and be extinguished from the face of the Earth. Even the great nation of France, that once mighty bastion of democracy that fought like lions in the First World War, has fallen to the Wehrmacht. Only two nations remain on Europe to stand in defiance against the German war machine.

Sequestered on an island and protected by the foreboding waters of the English Channel and the North Sea, the United Kingdom of Great Britain stands defiantly against the madman of Germany across the channel. The bombs of the Luftwaffe fall upon London every night, driving the British people to the safety of bunkers and subway stations. And yet, Britain will never surrender. Prime Minister Winston Churchill urges the British people to fight on. Thus he said this in June 4, 1941, at the wake of the evacuation on Dunkirk.

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”

Britain hoped for the United States to come to its rescue in due time, but America merely replied with trade in weapons and supplies. War will not come to the United States, nor will they come to it. For now.

In the east, the Soviet Union faces the onslaught of the German sledge hammer called Operation Barbarossa. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers are surrounded, captured, or killed as 3 million German descend upon Russia. All the while this happens, Stalin closes his ears and buries his head in the sand, ignoring the plight of the Soviet Union.

For a time.

June 27, 1941
London

It is 11:00 AM in London. It was business as usual in the capital of the British Empire. There was nothing out of the ordinary, other than the foreboding feeling of an impending German invasion of British shores. The Prime Minister had said 23 days before in a speech in the House of Commons that Adolf Hitler had plans for a full invasion of Britain and the subjugation of the Center of a world spanning empire.

Still, the people of London, and the United Kingdom as a whole, we’re confident that the Allied nations would win in the end. These people were defiant and did not think highly of the madman of Germany. Britain will never surrender. As long as the hope that the United States of America will lend its might unto the war effort endured, the war, they believed, will end in favour of democracy and the Allies...

1:30 PM, Westminster Abbey

At first, no one knew what it was. Initially, all there was a strange feeling for the people walking around the medieval church, as if time was... stretched. It felt like time slowed down.

Then, it appeared. It is, as it what it was called in other universes, a rift. A blue green portal appeared right at the door step of the Westminster Abbey. Out of it stepped thirteen people.

The British recoiled in awe as the first to step out seemed like to be a medieval knight in full armor, but upon closer inspection, he was, in fact, closer to a medieval Korean soldier of the Joseon Dynasty. He brandished sleek and highly advanced silver armor, and following him were twelve men and women clad in black robes, who seemed to be members of some outlandish death cult.

Startled, the civilians screamed and fled, while soldiers and police quickly rushed into the scene.

“Bloody hell mate!”, one of them yelled to the others as they formed a circle around the silver warrior and his retinue of cultists. Pointing their guns at the strangers, one of them, their commander, stepped forward.

“Who are you?”, he asked.

The warrior did not answer with an answer. Rather, he asked his own question. “What year is this?”

“1941, matey, from what planet are you from?”

“Earth.”, came the reply.

The Metropolitan policemen and British soldiers looked at each other with confused glances as their commander shook his head in disbelief. “Mate, how did you get here? And what is with the weird outfit?”

“You asked me who I am, Captain William Jennings?”, the silver clad warrior replied strangely.

“How did you know my name?!”, the Brit said, drawing his pistol. “Identify yourself already!”

“I am Grand Admiral Yi Sun-shin of the Terran Federation Armada in the year 4500.”, he answered.

The British exchanged another set of confused glances before another of them stopped forward. “The Yi Sun-shin? The one who defeated 300 Japanese ships with just 12 ships in a battle five centuries?”

“If you are referring to my equivalent in this dimension, yes. I am.” He turned to Jennings. “This is London, correct?”

“You be right, mate.”

“And the continent has fallen to Germany, correct?”

“Most of it, bloody yes.”

Sighing, Yi pressed a button somewhere, and his armor dissembled itself, compacting into what looked like suitcase. Under the armor was a surprisingly fitting outfit with the current times; a black coat, grey pants, and black boots. The British gasped. “Prime Minister Winston Churchill wouldn’t mind if he had some help from extradimensional entities, would he not?”

“Ahhh... I don’t know. Just... follow us as I contact my superiors.”, the captain answered.

A few hours later

Churchill chomped on a cigar, blowing out smoke within his office. He was curious about these... visitors. They were human, that was sure, but they are not merely human. They were something more. He knew it. He felt it. They cannot be German spies, as no Earthly technology could do what these visitors did, and besides, three of the twelve others were confirmed to have Jewish ancestry. No way that the angry madman of Germany would allow such people to have such important jobs in the Reich.

Then he arrived. The wooden door opened quite slowly, but it revealed what looked like to be a Korean man in his thirties, dressed in monochromatic black clothing. He was carrying a black suitcase, and was followed by two people, a man and a woman, each wearing a robe that looked like they were from strange Asian monastic sect.

“So, its you.”, Churchill said. “It seems you know about me and this world before you came here in a...”

“Portal.”, Yi finished. “I have been to worlds like these before.”

“So.”, Churchill chuckled. “There are a thousands of Winstons out there?”

“Possibly more, sir.”, Yi answered.

“Let us begin with a question, then.”, Churchill said to the admiral. “Why are you here? Why do you offer your help to us?”

“I’d like to know the answer myself, Prime Minister.”, Yi replied. “These rifts are unpredictable. We were headed somewhere else, but we got sent here... which leads me to the second question. We want to help you... because... it is the right thing to do. I have seen the evil that the Third Reich has done elsewhere. If possible, I would like to help in minimising that.”

“Good.”, Churchill answered. “So how will you help us?”

“Well, sir, obviously in battle. However, I sense and predict that others are coming. Others from... other dimensions.”

“Fascinating.”, Churchill said. “Very well, then. Your... company will stay here in London for the time being until we can properly introduce our new allies to the people, unless if that is what you are planning.”

“Just the first part, but the second is Welcome, sir Churchill.”

Little did they know that the “others” will be quite close soon...

Doug
The Great Wizarding Rebellion
We're finally out of the base yay The Flying Krock aka K. Rool's airship; unknown location

Doug found the hangar bay sometime later, a few of the reptiles known as Kremlings decided to start talking to him about the airship they were in as he entered the hangar bay, and that the reptiles were interested in his space fighter. however, before he could start talking to them, a massive rift opened up and scked him and his fighter through it, then, it was gone.

---

Somewhere Else

Doug was in complete freefall, as in, he was falling from the sky towards the ground. His fighter was underneath him, and was coming closer by the second. Just as the rift closed behind him, Doug slammed into the glass cockpit of his fighter and spent a few perilous seconds throwing the hatch open, strapping himself into the seat, closing the hatch, powering up the engines and ended up stopping the freefall of his ship.

The craft hovered in the air, and Doug could finally try to figure out where he was. The readings told him he was in a city by the name of London, with the date being June 27th, 1941.

"Well, these people have to have an air force. I reckon I'll be contacted pretty soon...They might want to talk to my superiors, if they can reach them, of course."

London
June 27, 1941

The arrival of a strange craft on London’s airspace was visible to both the civilians below and the British radar stations. Anti-aircraft guns swivelled on their bases to point at the esoteric fighter that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, but the gunnery crews haven’t been given clear orders for such an event, nor did they expect such an unknown visitor. Instead, Londoners starred at the jet, wondering if it was some kind of German trickery that would bring bombs down on London.

Fortunately, the radar operators had some foresight, and immediately phoned the commander in charge of the defense of London’s airspace. Having been informed of the strange visitors that appeared near Westminster Abbey an hour ago, the commander immediately contacted his counterpart in the RAF base on Northolt.

“Commander Winston Williams, we have a situation over the heart of London. We have a visitor.”, the defensive commander said over the phone to his RAF counterpart, who had been privy to the possibility of new extradimensional visitors as Churchill had directly informed all of the higher ranking officers in the London area.

“Sending in two fighters to intercept. We’ll see if they are friendly.”

Within a single minute, two Spitfires sped off the runway on Northolt, and were quickly in radio range of Doug’s fighter.

“This is the British Royal Airforce. You have violated British airspace. Identify yourself immediately.”

---

Yi Sun-shin looked at this watch. Without further ado, he called the Prime Minister.

“Sir, One has come.”

“Friends?”

“I do not know, yet.”