January 14, 2019, about 1 pm.

Beth is moving into the ruins before I’ve begun to take them in. What I see doesn’t seem extensive, but they’re not a single building either. Possibly the remnants of a small village or plantation, I’d guess. It’s hard to estimate when half of it is covered in vegetation. I start plodding forward, summoning a transparent shield while keeping Smoulder close, just in case. Josh is beside me in his full battle armour, rose-spikes fully extended. Roberts is bringing up the rear, still in his suit-pyjamas. It actually makes me feel better to know I’m not the only one who can’t summon magical armour. At least I have my shield now.

As we move into the ruins, I realize the previous occupants must have been roughly human-sized. The openings, where I assume doors used to be, are only slightly smaller than the ones we have at home. The couple that still have intact masonry above, indicate they’re fond of arches, but that might just be a local style.

Beth doesn’t seem to be interested in any of the buildings on the outskirts, because she keeps leading us deeper. I’m tempted to break off to explore, but I still don’t know what kind of threats are lurking about.

As we approach the centre of the village, I notice the statue. It's a creature with four arms, two legs and a head that reminds me of a cat. If this is a former resident, I doubt the statue is to scale as it towers four meters over the village centre. The statue is located in front of the only intact building in sight. The statue's four eyes serve an unending vigil, gazing off to the west. Curious about the statue, I focus on it, which costs me eleven points of focus for a short notification.

"Species K'tharn. A warm-blooded animal, similar to cat mammals of earth. Sapient. Integrated in the year 12,567 GST. Additional information available. Would you like to know more? Obtain the codex on the K'tharn species for 38.4 focus and 19.8 facet."

What? That's an insane price for a little knowledge.

I am able to glean a little more from the info, thanks to my internal clock. As it seems to have an idea of when the year 12,567 is. I get the sense it would have been the year 1329 A.D. on earth. I hold off on deciding whether to obtain the extra information at the moment. I do decide to share what I've learned with the rest of the group, so they don't waste their focus too.

"They're called K'tharn. Apparently, they were integrated in 1329 A.D. Obviously they share some similarities with cats." I supply waving at the statue.

"Alexis, not that I doubt you, but how the hell do you know that?" Beth asks while turning her emerald eyes loose on my soul.

"I just focused on it. Like when you spend focus on your interface to get more information. It cost me eleven focus to get that little tidbit though, so I don't recommend it," I reply, managing to keep the quiver from my voice.

After dialling her look down to a mildly curious death glare, Beth turns it on Josh and Roberts. "Have either of you been able to spend focus to get more information?"

"I have no focus," Josh replies immediately, "and never tried."

"Hmm. I tried but I was only able to get a vague sense from things. My focus pool isn't that large, but let me check again."

Roberts response reminds me that I haven't checked his status yet. So, I call up the party screen to give it a quick review.

PANDORA RESOURCE CURRENT/MAX [EDGE] (REGEN) Health 1/33 [-3.2] (15 11)/day Stamina 42/50 [1.9] (26)/day Mana 225/230 [23.1] (168)/day Focus 126.1/174 [11.6] (107)/day Matrix Facet 46/56 [5.2] (40)/hour ROSE RESOURCE CURRENT/MAX [EDGE] (REGEN) Health 131/133 [11] [21.0] (81)/day Stamina 75/113 [6.4] [11.4] (64)/day Mana 0.8/32 [0.1] (16)/day Focus 0.3/21 [0.2] (11)/day Matrix Petal 32/32 [2.5] [1.5] (19)/hour Thorn 12/12 [0.9] (7)/hour RAVEN QUEEN RESOURCE CURRENT/MAX [EDGE] (REGEN) Health 88/88 [4.7] [14.7] (48)/day Stamina 78/78 [5.2] [10.2] (43)/day Mana 90/110 [6.6] (62)/day Focus 102/157 [11.4] (96)/day Matrix Umbra 40/40 [2.8] [0.3] (24)/hour ROBERTS RESOURCE CURRENT/MAX [EDGE] (REGEN) Health 89/89 [4.5] (48)/day Stamina 119/119 [11.4] (73)/day Mana 42/49 [4.2] (26)/day Focus 58/63 [2.1] (33)/day Matrix Reprieve 23/30 [3] (18)/hour

Not as balanced as Beth but also not as lopsided as Josh and I, Roberts has a clear focus on stamina with no real weak points. Apparently, I'm the only one with crap health.

"Hmm, focusing on my attributes gives slightly more information, but nothing particularly useful. How about you?"

"Vague feelings, that's it. Nothing more." Beth replies while turning her gaze back to me. "Are you sure it just costs you focus? No other resource, such as facet or mana?"

"I don't think so. The first time I used it, I didn't really know how to use my mana and I had zero facet." I respond while thinking about it.

"It is saying that I can spend facet and focus to get more information on the K'tharn. Maybe the facet cost has just been so low my edge reduces it to nothing?" I offer while barely withstanding everyone's scrutiny. Even Josh is staring at me strangely.

"Well, I imagine that would be very useful. I don't suppose you could use your ability on my special resource, Reprieve, to tell me what it says about it. It's rather maddening getting only a general feeling of wellness from it," Roberts requests, looking at his hand while wiggling his fingers.

"You have received a request to examine Forerunner Roberts' Reprieve resource. Would you like to know more? Obtain the full codex for 38.4 focus and 19.8 facet. Note, the codex will be shared with Forerunner Roberts."

"Wow," I whisper quietly as I read the cost. It's the same cost as the codex for the K'tharn, but this seems way more useful.

Checking the prompt I realize I haven't tried this with my own special resource since I was stuck in the time freeze. As I focus, instead of a notification, I'm brought to a new section of my interface. It's reminiscent of my journal but instead of quests, it has tabs that read bestiary and codex. There's a very brief entry under K'tharn and a thorough one for mana-hares. There are also brief descriptions of all my attributes and resource pools.

Most importantly my facet codex is flashing with a symbol I intuit to mean there's more information available. Likely for the low cost of 38.4 focus and 19.8 facet. Opening the entry, I'm proven correct. There in front of me is a notification asking me if I'd like to know more.

Returning to the conversation, I answer Roberts question, "It seems like I could get a codex description of your Reprieve, but it would cost me 40 focus and 20 facet."

"I think I can do the same for everyone's resources." I continue distractedly while I consider whether I want to spend the focus to learn about my facet. I'm not really worried about the facet cost. I'll regain that in less than an hour. But 40 focus represents over a third of my daily focus. I’m already down a fair amount of focus from all my investigations and practice. Taking a quick look, I see I have 126 focus remaining. That means I could theoretically get three codex entries.

Josh lets out a low whistle in response to my statement. "That's twice as much focus as my maximum. Seems pretty expensive for just a little bit of information."

"I agree. As nice as it would be to know more about my Reprieve, best to save your focus for more important matters. If perhaps your focus is full before we rest for the night, maybe you could do so then? After all, it appears you'd regain most of it by the time we wake, at least with your regeneration."

"Maybe," I answer, not committed to the idea. Well, the idea is fine, but I'm not sure I want to spend my focus on his resource right away. Then again, I'd get to know everything it's capable of. That might be useful.

"Either way, we can make that decision later. Roberts, Alexis." Beth interjects, interrupting our discussion while pointedly moving past the statue, leading us to the largest and most intact structure in the village. If I had to guess, I'd say it used to be a church or town hall, maybe both. It's made entirely of stone, stretching at least twenty metres high.

As I look it over, I notice what seems like the remains of a stained-glass window in one opening. While Beth is peaking her head inside the door, I move closer to the glass. It's a broken piece, but it has part of a picture depicted on it. The portion that's intact shows a figure that vaguely matches the silhouette of the K'tharn statue. It's four arms are splayed wide, as if its worshipping something but the rest of the window is missing. Still, I try to jostle the piece free, intent on taking it with us. It's not even very hard. A moment later I'm holding the glass in my hand before joining Josh and Roberts back in front of the building.

"Seems sturdy. There's a doorway in the back that we should check out, but it might make a decent safe house. If we're as alone out here as it seems, we're probably going to want a few." Beth decides as she pulls her head back out from looking around inside. "What's that?" she asks, gesturing to the glass fragment in my hand.

I hold it up for her inspection, "appears to be stained glass. An image of a K'tharn. I found it in the window," I answer.

"I wonder what happened to them," Josh wonders.

No one answers him as we all look around the village. It doesn't seem like it was destroyed by a dragon. It just seems like it collapsed in on itself due to neglect.

"Who knows," Beth shrugs. "Let's secure this building then maybe we can explore a little. See if we can't find something more useful than an old mug or a broken window. Josh, lead the way. Roberts keep a watch out here, please. Kid with me."

Nodding, Josh steps forward into the abandoned church while I put the glass down before stepping next to Beth. I'd rather not be carrying it if we come across anything dangerous.

I really need that backpack.

Taking his duty seriously, Roberts puts his back to us, keeping his eyes open for anything that can approach from the village. He's not carrying a weapon of any sort, but at least he'll be able to let us know if there's trouble coming.

The church is a relatively plain grey building. There are large windows flanking the front door, allowing light in. There are also a few smaller windows along each side that I could easily climb through. It'd be a tight fit for Josh though.

I don't think I've been to a church since my mom stopped making me go when I was twelve. I still remember her exact words, "If you want to burn in hell, then that's your business. I'm a good Christian. Unlike some people."

The inside of the church is incredibly intact considering the roots and trees growing through most of the other buildings in the village. Here, it's as if the vegetation is afraid to encroach, leaving the inside covered in a thin layer of dust but not much else. There aren't even animal tracks running across the floor. I can feel Smoulder shifting her head back and forth as we make our way across the room. It's hard to make out any details in the dark, but I can tell there's no furniture, just a single stone podium near the far end and the doorway leading further back. There's a raised balcony that runs along both sides and the back of the building, the guardrail missing.

As we move forward, I notice that Josh's soft steps are sending small puffs of dust into the air, clearly marking our passage. I'm tempted to summon wind and water to scour the place clean, but it doesn't feel like an appropriate time. Josh reaches the back door, then turns, whispering to us, "there are two sets of stairs. Which way?"

Looking up at the balconies, then the windows located above them, Beth quietly replies, "upstairs first, then we'll go down."

Moving upstairs we find more of the same. Dust and empty windows. By this point the dust is sticking to my onesie in greater quantities, rendering me an unpleasant brown. Not my best look. Meanwhile, both Josh and Beth are untouched, their magical armours apparently dustproof.

With the top two floors explored, we approach the stairs leading down. We huddle together, gazing down into the darkness. Beth glances over at me before asking, "Alexis, light?"

Summoning an orb of fire, I grow it until its five centimetres across, warming me while chasing away the dark. I send it forward a couple meters then take the first step down. A hand on my shoulder stops me before I can go any farther.

"Me first," Josh smiles weakly. Nodding I step aside, letting him move past me down the stairs. I bring the ball of flame up near the ceiling, but the passage is low, so he either has to stay slightly ahead or behind it to avoid getting burned.

Choosing to walk ahead of it, Josh cautiously picks his way down the steps as he nears a small landing. From where I'm standing, I can just make out that the stairs turn off into the dark. Josh waits for me to catch up. Once I'm immediately behind him, he gestures for me to send the orb further down, ahead of us.

Obliging, we watch my orb descend, it's light illuminating the sudden drop off where the steps end a meter ahead. It's hard to tell but it seems like it's only a two-meter drop to the floor below. Peering down, I can barely make out the edges of a small room. There's a solid door set into the wall where the stairs would have let out if they hadn't collapsed, but not much else of note.

Tapping my shoulder, Beth squeezes by me, dropping to the floor below. I keep the flame steady as she checks the corners of the room before turning to the door. "It's all clear. Come down to take a look at this door."

I walk over then stand cautiously at the edge. It's not the biggest of drops, but I've never been that athletic. I'm about to start carefully climbing down when Josh jumps down. He then turns, extending a hand up for me to hold. Grateful, I take his hand before attempting my own jump. It's not as smooth as Josh or Beth but I don't hurt myself, so I count it as a win.

Amazingly the orb of fire remains stable even though I'm outside of my two-meter range. When I try to manipulate it though, I realize the only connection remaining is my ability to dismiss the mana. Shrugging I dismiss the orb, then summon a new one before moving to stand next to Beth. The door is covered in a neat orderly script.

It's not runes, at least they don't resemble any of the runes I've discovered so far. There are too many breaks and the characters don't connect, so there's no path for the mana to flow through.

There's no door handle, just the strange characters. I reach out to touch the door, but Beth stops me with a look.

"Maybe don't touch the strange door, we find in a mysterious building's basement, on an alien planet, kid. At least not without a good reason."

"Right. Yeah. Bad idea." I agree as I pull my hand away. I do however decide to start noting down the characters. Wondering if any of the characters are the same as the mug, I cross-reference my notes. There are several characters that match. Maybe it's the local language.

"Quest received: Knock, knock. Description: Translate the strange door, in the mysterious building's basement, on the alien planet. Requirements: translate 0/23 characters. Reward: 3 iron rank integration points; unknown. Time: unlimited."

Huh, a new quest. Only three integration points. Does that mean it isn't that hard?

"So, I just got a new quest for translating the door when I copied the characters into my journal. Apparently, there are twenty-three characters." I relay as I compare the characters on the mug to the ones on the door. Unfortunately, I don't have any reference for what any of the characters mean. Are they letters like in English, or are they like Mandarin where they have thousands of characters? As I ponder it, I'm not sure how either of those translations could be considered easy. Maybe I'll be able to use focus to help? Though if I'm able to just download a translation of the language that would be too easy.

Right?

I'm about to start focusing on a character that appears on both the mug and the door when Beth interrupts me, "I'm sorry Alexis. What do you mean journal?"

Pausing, I turn to her confused, "the journal under the quest tab? The one marked with my Forerunner name. It's right below personal quests."

Beth pauses, with that distant look I'm starting to associate with menu browsing. Narrowing her eyes, her focus returns to me. "It seems there's more than one thing you're capable of doing with the system that the rest of us aren't."

"Well, to be fair. I can't make magical armour out of nothing. So, there's that." I reply, feeling nonplussed.

I'm a little surprised when Beth explodes into laughter at that.

"Hah, kid. That is a very fair point. Don't worry, I wasn't accusing you of anything. Merely observing that your interface is more, hmmm. What's the word?" Beth ponders tapping her chin.

"Robust. Your interface is more robust than ours. Something I'm sure will come in useful later."

"But enough of this. I'm tired of this dark hole in the ground. If we block these stairs off, I'm sure this will be a fine safe house. I'd rather not leave a door like that exposed, " Beth states, making the two-meter leap up to where the stairs end without bothering to get a running start. My ascent is nowhere near as cool, Josh boosting me up with cupped hands. Of course, Josh pulls himself up, easy as walking.

"Uhm, how are we going to block the stairs?" I wonder as we walk back through the empty main hall.

"I'm not sure yet. We'll think of something. Might have to roll some big blocks of stone in."

It no longer takes concentration to maintain my flame orb, so long as I set it in a specific position relative to myself. Which I mention because I once again forgot that it's weird that a teenager in a kitty onesie is walking around with a flaming orb over her shoulder. But I'm reminded of this fact when Roberts turns towards us as we're exiting the building, once more focusing his uncomfortable gaze on me. To his credit, he catches himself this time, looking away. But it still causes me to freeze for a moment.

"There's a door in the basement that might have something weird behind it, but the place is otherwise clear. There's nothing except a podium and a whole lot of dust." Beth tells Roberts when she steps out behind me.

Which reminds me.

"This is going to be our safehouse right?" I ask the others who are inspecting the different paths that lead into the village while talking about sightlines.

"That's the plan kid," Beth replies as she kneels down, inspecting something at the base of the statue outside the church.

"Okay, I'm going to clean it up a bit then," I mention as I turn back to the church while Josh and Roberts talk about whether they should move stone or trees to shore up the church's defences.

I create water mana then proceed to draw more from the air before thoroughly washing my face, hair and onesie. When I'm done, I have the water deposit the waste in a neat little pile then take a drink, sighing in satisfaction.

"She, she, she…." Roberts stutters while pointing at me.

"Yeah, it's been a busy morning," I respond turning my attention back to the church. There's still a lot of dust in there, and now that we're out, I intend to clean it up.

Marshalling my water orb, I'm about to start when I realize I haven't dismissed my fire orb yet. Shrugging, I let it dissipate then continue gathering more water from the air. Once I've gathered an orb roughly a meter in diameter, I notice a drain on my mana. It's low though. Only 0.1 mana every minute, so I start cleaning.

I spread the water out into a wave then walk it around the building, depositing the dust outside the front window every time I finish a lap. After my second lap I hear the others talking and a brief mention of a briefing but I remain focused on my task.

By the time I've cleaned the whole building, excluding the basement obviously, the pile outside the window is two meters tall. Now that I'm done cleaning, I check my skill notifications with satisfaction.

"Skill increased: Mana Manipulation (28)."

"Skill increased: Fire Manipulation (11)."

"Skill increased: Water Manipulation (13)."

"Skill reassessed: Cleaning (3 to 30)."

Walking outside to let them know I'm done, I see Beth, Josh and Roberts all sitting at the foot of the statue watching me.

"Hey guys, I cleaned out the safe house."

Beth glances over at Josh before speaking, "Alexis. That was amazing. But I need to know one very important thing."

Beth stands up then puts her hand on my bare shoulder, her eyes boring into mine.

"Do you think you can learn earth magic?"