I breathed in, trying out the new air. The smell of oil and smog filled my lungs. A gray light leaked in from cracks in the walls. A muggy, thick atmosphere crept its way in. Rain pattered against the roof of the room we were still in. Everything smelled sterile, almost like a hospital. I turned to Torix,

“Where did you warp us on Giess?”

He frowned, “Somewhere I knew would be uninhabited.”

I walked forward, putting my hand on the doorway. I pushed the wall of dirt. It crumbled to dust revealing my first view of Giess. A murky rain fell, tapping against me. A thick mist obscured my vision in the distance. The droplets plopped against my helm. An acrid, nigh toxic smell soaked in.

I clasped a fist, creating an aura of antigravity around me. The rain fell onto it, sliding off the sides of the generated force. It was like I coated myself with a panel of glass. I squinted, taking my first step. My feet clanked against the hard ground. Cold, lifeless, and abyssal, Giess wasn’t looking so good.

Everything around me looked odd. We were in what used to be a city no doubt. At the same time, omens scattered about on the remnants of the old society. Cars with no windows connected with the metal ground. Some tiny insects ran on their surface, their movements robotic.

They ran along the surface of the car, fiddling with it. As they ran past spots on the car, they left it polished to perfection. Some places reflected light like a mirror. Varieties of these insects covered every surface, turning the world into an angular, hygienic wasteland. All the buildings shared this same effect.

These strange creatures plated skyscrapers with the same material. A whistling wind blew between the buildings. This constant breeze never relented, staying steady at all times. It carried bits of ash, spores, and a chemical stench. This was like a robot dystopia of some kind, and we were right in the middle of it.

I turned towards Torix, “Giess looks like shit guys.”

Althea snickered a little. When she stepped out, her grin turned upside down. She glanced around, taking the bleak landscape in, “By Schema...this is the new world we were supposed to go to?”

Torix waved away our concerns, “Are there not barren spots on Earth? Giess is no different.”

I pulled back my judgments for now. I stepped forward, my feet leaving impressions in the metal. A thin film of water poured down the hill between two buildings. Althea and I walked forward, finding this water forming streams. Tiny flows of murky water pooled into disgusting streams of noxious, purple water. Ashen spores clumped into bubbled blots of yellow at its surface.

At least it had some color.

Althea and I walked along the river, exploring further out. The pollution seeped into every square inch of the scenery. Tiny rodents ran over the surface of this lake. Metal coated their backs, and their red eyes bulged out of their heads. With pouches on their bellies, their bulbous hind legs shot them across the water.

They grasped the yellow bubbles into their arms, sliding it into their pouches. Once on land, they sprinted into concrete coves. A set of metal teeth grabbed onto a slower metal rat, crunching its ribs and spine. Plum colored mush gushed from the broken rat, a foul odor festering out of it. The fish pulled it into the water, no doubt feasting on the filth.

Everything ate the pollution. Several pelican creatures planted themselves on the side of buildings. With beaks of steel, they opened their mouths and caught the foul rain. One of these birds with a bulging neck and black feathers dived towards the lake. The fish with jaws of steel snapped out of the air at a rat. The bird squirted a stream of boiling water at it, the liquid hissing.

It shocked the fish, causing it to seize up. The bird flew down and gulped it into its steel beak, swallowing it whole. I looked at Althea. She looked up at me. We sighed together.

So far, Giess churned up one word in my mind - filth.

I scratched the side of my head, looking back at our teleported room. Torix and Kessiah scuffled through bags, getting ready to head out. Torix teleported the entire room, the dirt and stone singed at its edges. I raised my eyebrow at him, “So uh, why’d you teleport us here again?”

Torix pulled out a pack from a portal. He opened it, and tossed me a circular piece of metal,

“Because this area is closed off from the rest of Geiss.” I caught the piece of steel, and Torix continued,

“While I agree this is a rather unagreeable first view, I knew no one would find us here. The reason for that should be self-evident. It gives us time to prepare ourselves for what is to come.”

Kessiah put a circular tablet of metal onto her shoulder, “Well, what is to come?”

Pieces of metal clicked into place, expanding over her skin. Within a few seconds, power armor covered her from head to toe. She walked up to Torix who hummed away at a spell. His mana came together, casting a white forcefield over her that lost all color a moment later. I couldn’t analyze her status after the magic took place.

He cloaked her in some spell. Torix walked over towards me, “In the beginning, I believe we should scope out the common culture here on Giess. After discovering the comings and goings of this place, we’ll position ourselves around someone of knowledge. After learning what is going on, we’ll make our move.”

Althea placed a piece of carbon fiber mesh on her shoulder, “Then we’ll learn what we need to know?”

The fibers traced outwards, covering her from head to toe. A panel of tinted glass covered her face, showing her curvaceous figure. I took note, admiring her for a second. I focused on myself, placing the dark gray metal disc onto my own shoulder. It tried forming over me, but it struggled around the spikes of my armor.

I helped it out, molding my armor into the shape of the expanding suit. After a few finicky seconds, it formed over me. The inside was soft and air-conditioned. The mugginess disappeared, a dehumidifier humming lightly. I cracked my neck, the armor moving with me. I expected it to restrict my motions, but it didn’t.

Of course, it wouldn’t hold up against my sheer strength. It was perfect for a disguise though. As I glanced at my hands, Torix walked up and cast his disguising spell on me. The invisible shield formed around me like Kessiah before. Torix looked up,

“Based on the perception of your status, you should be disguised up till level 4,000 people appear. Considering the highest level person on this planet isn’t even 7,000, we should be fine.”

I nodded, “Alright chief, where to?”

He pointed towards the stream of gunk Althea and I just left behind, “Follow this river. Based on my maps, any river here should lead towards a reservoir.”

Kessiah jogged up towards the stream. Torix cast over Althea as Kessiah put her hand in the water. She pulled it out, the water sticking a bit like thin slime. She slung her hand, the purple muck flinging off,

“By Baldowah...you really know how to pick em, don’t you professor bones?”

Torix rolled his fire eyes, “Have faith in the process. Come on, let’s get away from this rank place.”

Althea leaped over the smooth steel. With agility and grace, she maneuvered with ease. Torix floated over everything, having his arms crossed behind him. A blackened circle of mana held him up, carrying him over it all.

I extended the armor on one of my fingers. I sliced out a chunk of steel coated concrete beneath me. With a gravity well, I pulled myself and the platform up with me. Kessiah dashed behind us as she jumped around obstacles. Torix shouted at me, “We can’t have her pulling us down, now can we? Could you assist her, perhaps?”

I rolled my eyes. I raised a hand, pulling Kessiah up with gravity. She fell through the air, confused as hell. After reaching beside me, a pool of filth raised up with her. I flicked away bits of trash and dirt with telekinesis. Kessiah wiped some muck off her armored face. She squinted her eyes at Torix,

“Thanks for suggesting the ride. Really thoughtful.”

A subtle grin ran up Torix’s lips, “Oh anytime for you.”

We raced through the broken city, the muck river growing in size as smaller streams fused with it. After a few minutes, the tall buildings gave way to grasslands. Grass mimicked a million scissors planted with the blades facing up. Light refracted off the shining edges, the grass deadly.

Trees of the same sort lined the horizon, expanding in our sight as we got near them. We passed geometric hills, combed and pruned by these strange creatures. More of them rummaged through the wastes, eating the pollution and each other.

One large creature rolled around, a fattened ball covered in metal. It opened up by uncurling its legs. It opened a hippo-like mouth, munching on rock and metal. These rolling blobs of clumpy steel raced over injured or immobilized creatures. In groups, the scavengers ate anything alive. It was hellish.

So far, this looked like a fringe world. After an hour of following the giant river of muck, we reached a wall of old bronze. Hundreds of feet tall, the wall towered over the horizon. Each of us passed over it. I lifted Althea with a gravity well like Kessiah, not wanting her to walk around the disgusting lake.

Oh boy, disgusting it was. We floated over a thick, gunky mess. Islands of Yellow eggs wafting on the purple abyss. Slow waves rolled across the surface, shifting the eggs. One cluster of them hatched, revealing a four-armed, gray humanoid. It lacked eyes, and a thin tongue jutted from its face.

It jumped into the deep purple surrounding it, dashing through the water with a black shadow showing on the surface. We passed over it, other shadows showing under the disgusting water. Some dwarfed us, leviathans coasting beneath the surface. At times they swam up and swallowed entire islands of the yellow eggs.

The water and wall stretched on like this for miles. Some massive, hulking beasts floated on the water with ecosystems on their backs. Other times swarms of insects fought for scraps on the surface of the ocean. After an hour of hovering, we passed the endless lavender pool.

As we passed it, fields of gray returned. A blip of green popped into the horizon afterwards. The blip spread out, turning into a green spot in the distance. At this point, Althea rode on my shoulders. She pointed at it,

"Do you see it? There's a forest or something."

Torix gasped, "By Schema I beleived this realm of gray would never end."

Kessiah closed out her status. She chewed on some gum, rolling herself around in the gravity well, "So you didn't take us to a trash world after all."

Torix rolled his eyes. The changing scenery neared us, coming into focus. On the other side of it, I gaped at the sight before me.

The metallic, angular wasteland gave way to greenery. Like night and day, a span of twenty feet separated the lush forest and hellish blade trees. At the border of these two distinct environments, animals and insects alike fought fiercely. They stabbed. They bit. They crushed. They cracked. They tore at each other in a standstill.

Creatures out of fantasy hacked away at each other. Chimeras of mixed beasts fought hulks of steel. We passed by the battle, reaching into the lush forests. Within the greenery, the environment changed. Soft, cuddly squirrels jumped from tree to tree. If a bird swooped down at them, they shouted out ear-splitting cries.

Armored hawks fumbled through the air at this, sent into disarray. They crashed through branches, protected by thick plates of keratin. Once on the forest floor, they...channeled mana. They lifted the branches then shot them at the squirrels. Some squirrels evaded this unusual tactic. Others didn’t. Before they even hit the ground, the hawks dashed and gulped them down.

They were caught up in other creature’s battles, however. Large, glowing salamanders walked through the forest like dinosaurs. When they ate, they lit their whip-like tails ablaze. With a shattering smack of their tail, they whipped through tree trunks. The trees fell, and these fire salamanders expanded their jaws over the wood like huge anacondas.

I blinked at the sight, “Jesus. This is like a nature documentary for another world.”

Torix shrugged, “This is far more normal than what we saw earlier.” Torix pointed at the giant salamanders, “They are creatures that use mana. This whole planet is rich with species that utilize it. The native espens even have religions around it.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Espens?”

Torix nodded, “I dug up some knowledge of this place. Espens are the primary, sentient species. They and the gialgathens.”

Althea pursed her lips, “Gialgethans?”

Torix shrugged, “I know the name, nothing more. This planet didn’t have modern technology until 30 years ago. They’ve rapidly integrated Schema’s technology since the Culling over 20 years ago. Outside of that, there’s little information on Giess.”

Torix rubbed his hands together, “Isn’t it exciting?”

I grinned, a bit of happy anticipation rising up, “Hell yeah. This is infinitely better than that other place.”

Kessiah snored, asleep after the first hour of landing here. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her. Outside of the grotesque creatures and landscape, the lands of metal had little to offer. This place was different though. Tiny wooden villages dotted the landscape. At first, I thought it was the espens. Torix corrected me,

“They aren’t quite that primitive. These are...well I don’t really know. They aren’t espens however.”

I squinted, getting a better look at the villages. In them, six armed beasts climbed through crude tree houses. Covered in white fur and red plates on their hands and face, they appeared fearsome. The largest of them even grew over the height of a tall man, making their sturdy frames all the more impressive.

The red plates on their faces looked like tiki masks, and their claws were more for stabbing into trees than living things. They ate fruit at the top of trees, enjoying a simple life surrounded by nature. It didn’t look like the worst way to live.

Kessiah glanced at them, having awoken. She laid flat on my gravity well, kicking her legs,

“Boring.”

I clasped a fist, “What? Come on. They’re nothing like anything on earth. It’s awesome.”

Kessiah rolled her eyes, “Yeah, ok. You sound like backwater bumpkin.”

Althea cupped her mouth, pretending like she was whispering, “The bumpkin that’s carrying you instead of letting you run hundreds of miles.”

I released the gravity well under Kessiah. She flipped through the air for a second before I pulled her back up. I tapped my face, “Oh man, what a lapse in my attention. Sorry about that Kessiah. 24,000 willpower only goes so far after all.”

Kessiah’s expression went flat, “Ah...fair point. He’s backwater with skills.”

I rolled my eyes, orienting them back at the lush expanse of nature. The mana warped everything, solidified crystals of it poking out of rocky clusters. Animals hoarded around these clusters, feeding chips of the gems to their young. The larger the animal, the more mana gems embroidered their skin.

The creatures were much stronger than Earth’s own ecosystem. At times, a few of them even walked out of eldritch dungeons alive. They were covered in scars and wounds, but they survived. Nothing on Earth shared that kind of tenacity outside of humans. Some of these creatures gave even stronger eldritch a run for their money.

Scaled hydras made of metal, horses with glowing hooves and antlers that shot azure lightning, even shining wolves that darted around like wisps, this planet had it all. The vibrancy contrasted the dull, lifeless fields of metal. I'll admit though, the fields of gray had there fair share of monsters too.

After another hour of green forests, plains, and mountain, we reached a sudden blot on the horizon. Torix murmured,

“If the maps are correct, this should be a teleportation center for Schema. It’s a small border town, nothing large. We’ll observe the natives here, blending in with the foreigners. Feel free to explore here and talk with other factions.”

Torix grinned at me, “Perhaps you can make some allies with the more prevalent factions near Earth?”

I grabbed my chin, glancing up, "That's not a half bad idea."

Kessiah murmured, "Knowing Daniel, we'll have even more enemies than before by the time he's done."

Althea shrugged, "Then he'll do to them what he did to Yawm."

Torix tapped his chin, "Let's pray that these border town hasn't expanded too much regardless. I'd rather us keep our heads low. Our long term success on Giess depends on it."

As we neared the town, ultra modern buildings cropped up. Sheets of steel covered most of these spaces, various emblems embroidered on them. Flags waved in the wind like symbols of pride. I remembered one of them for the steel legion. Other factions planted onto the town too, expanding their influence outwards.

They built compounds and facilities for whatever they needed. For the first time in years, I saw cars riding on roads. They carried supplies that went in and out of these hubs of activity. Power armor-clad fighters fired shots from rifles in firing ranges. Magicians taught spellcraft in open spots of the town. Merchants and caravaners sold old tech that was no doubt new here on Giess.

All this contrasted with the local espens. The locals molded their houses out of nature, the trees warped into living spaces. They molded clouds of mist that hovered near their living spaces. Vines altered into rough stairs wrapping around trees. Bridges of branch extended from treehouse to treehouse. It all flowed together, creating a picturesque image.

The flowing aesthetic hit a harsh contrast with all the imported metal, creating a surreal feel to the town. Torix turned towards us,

"We'll be taking a forest path into the city to avoid any unwanted attention. Try and avoid making a scene. That is especially true for you, Daniel."

I spread out my arms, "What did I do?"

Kessiah faked a laugh, covering her mouth, "You're taller than Yawm. What else do you need to know?"

I bit my lip, "Ok...That's fair."

Althea snickered under her breath as we landed into the woods. Torix renewed his cloaking spell on us. As he did, I explored. A few glowing mushrooms expanded from a cluster of roots. I grabbed one, sensing mana in it.

With my armor, I sapped it out. The mushroom squealed as it shriveled and died. I frowned at the gray mush, tossing it aside. It reeked. I shook the gunk off as Torix called, "One more casting. Let's get this over with."

I walked up, and Torix directed a black shell of mana over me. The transparent shield generated. He pointed in the distance, "To Icosa."

Althea scratched her nose, "Uh, Icosa?"

Torix waved his hand, "It's the border town's name."

Althea and I nodded, "Ahhhh."

We hiked through the dense shrubbery, making sure not to run. Running everywhere was weird apparently. After a few minutes of walking, I turned towards Torix. As I spoke, my voice muffled under the effect of my intercom,

“Why didn’t we just use the teleporter to get here?”

Kessiah pushed away a branch,

“We’re unknowns. We don’t have access to them.”

I flicked a vine out of my way, “Well of course.”

We passed onto a path through the jungle. A minute later, the far off sounds of cars and people ebbed into the forest. We stopped at a line of trees separating civilization and wilderness. Torix spoke on an insulated intercom,

“There’s a mental activation for closed link intercoms inside each of your suits. Use them when discussing details we’d rather not share. Act casual, as if we’re mercenaries passing through.”

Althea and I nodded. Kessiah rubbed her hands together, "Please please please have something good to eat and drink. Earth was so bland.”

We walked out through the path of the jungle, several of the treehouses hanging overhead. I clicked my intercom on,

"We just had an apocalypse. Cut us some slack."

Althea spoke into the intercom system right after, "You made some good stuff, but the rations were just...bleck."

We kept the conversation casual, pacing right up under several buildings. I glanced around,

“Where are the espens?”

Torix shrugged, “Eh, I don’t know.”

We passed by several homes before reaching some sort of shop on curve of the road. The area reminded me of a mom and pop shop in a suburb.

On this shop's sign, a series of flowing characters covered it. Normally I couldn’t read them, but Schema’s system made it clear.

Welcome to Selesha’s Herb Shop.

Clear panes glistened underneath the sign. The wood crossed around the panels of glass, growing with it. The greenery was gardened into the side of the building. Mana ebbed from flowers blooming on the side of this tree shop. The clusters of petals rose from earth plotted in the basins of bark.

The others walked right past it, looking for something more exciting. I stopped at the door, pointing at it, "I'm checking this place out first. I'll see you guys in the city once I'm finished."

Althea waved, "Cya. I hope you find something interesting."

I opening the door. As I ducked inside, two plants over the doorway sprayed a wave of mist over me. Imbued with mana, it didn't dissipate. I shrugged, looking around.

Thank god the ceilings were high.

The moment I stepped foot inside, I was glad I chose to explore here. Indescribable scents poured into my suit. Aromas reminiscent of cedar, lavender, rosemary, lotus, and roses came into my suit. They were different, changed in a way that made them distinctly different yet all too familiar.

It gave me a sense of deja vu and nostalgia all at once. Majestic flowers glowed in the gentle hum of phosphorescent butterflies. They sat on the roof, acting as lighting for the entire room. The sheer abundance of visual delight struck me like a sledgehammer. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. No, like Disneyland.

Unlike earth, every flower held a different color and texture. Every living thing glowed a different shade. As I observed everything in a trance, I bumped into someone. They fell, a high pitched voice yelling. Before they hit the ground, I snapped them up with a bit of gravity magic. They floated back onto their feet as I turned around.

Two amber eyes met mine, along with a look of fear. It was an espen, probably the shops owner. I scratched the back of my head,

"Uh, sorry about that." I reached out with a hand, "The name's Daniel."