Hello my dear readers, did you miss me?!? Ngaaww... I missed you too, but sadly I've been swamped with work, covering shifts for my colleagues who had gone on holiday in this holiday season. Anyways, I made this chapter twice as long as an apology and as a new years present. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! IT'S 2016!!

Anyways, enough rambling from me, enjoy.

Everybody’s gazes were locked on the paranormal occurrence that was standing in front of them. There were so many things wrong with what they were seeing, and each one just gets more ineffable than the next. For starters, the family was standing on the glass panel as if there was gravity while every officer in the bridge of Hope was either secured to their seats or floating in mid-air.

Even assuming that they were floating on a spot that made it seem like they were standing there, how is it that they were breathing in the vacuum of space? To be able to mist the glass panels up with his breath would mean that there is air where there shouldn’t be. Their still intact and functional body seem to suggest an atmosphere acting to keep their blood from boiling out of every orifice.

And talking about misting the glass over, this meant that his breath was warm enough for the vapour to condense on the glass. Temperature wise, space is almost at absolute zero, hovering a mere 2 Kelvin above that. There was just no way that the water did not freeze over, or for that matter, the family standing outside were yet to be frozen.

Last but not least. How the eff did they get from the planet to up here in orbit with the spacecraft? The pictures and videos from the probes seem to suggest that the technology of the planet was far from aerial flight, much less space flight.

As the minds of everyone on the bridge stopped working, their attention was once again re-alerted when the young male with golden eyes seemed to have noticed something. He started to literally jog on the exterior of the ship towards the engineering section. His family followed closely behind with the little dog taking one last look before trotting after them.

With a thin layer of gravitational field applied to the exterior of the spaceship, Kiefer was now heading towards what looked like an automated robot towering at 7m high. The titans followed suit finally catching up to the robot that was returning to a hangar bay. It was a little tricky following the robot since it suddenly transitioned from a stationary section of the ship onto one that was rotating fairly quickly.

Standing on a circular platform that was spinning and giving the titans a dizzy spell, Kiefer tried to pry open the blast doors that the robot had entered through. Not wanting to damage the ship and risk endangering the lives of anyone that might be on the other side, Kiefer stopped quickly and chose to knock really hard instead.

Loud banging noises echoes through the drone bay as Kiefer hammered relentlessly, using only enough force to avoid denting or damaging the hull. Sher was suggesting melting through the doors with her beam but Kiefer cut her off mid-sentence, afraid of anymore weird ideas that might pop into her little head.

As if responding to his knocks, about 3 minutes later the blast doors started to rumble once again as Kiefer could feel the mechanism within the doors hinging and turning, unclicking to let the 2 toothed halves split. Peeking through the slit created by the slowly opening door, Kiefer could see a flurry of movement.

Standing on the walls of the hangar was an entire team of what he presumed to be medical and scientific staff dressed in teletubby suits. This was of course a precaution against the supposed natives of this new planet that had come to greet them. The team of scientists and medical examiners approached the titans dressed in biohazard suits and equipped with all sorts of scanners.

“Just relax and stand still.” Kiefer instructed the titans as he allowed the inspection team to draw closer. “They are just checking for any harmful substances that we may have brought with us. Once we are in the clear, they will let us move as we wish.” Kiefer explained, to which all 3 other titans nodded.

*Dit. Dit dit. Ditditdit. Ddtdddtdtdtdtdtdttdtdtdtd*

The Geiger counter went off the scales as one of the radiation control team members stopped dead in his tracks. He turned to his team leader to signal for help and the rest of the team seemed to back away from Kiefer and the titans. Very quickly and swiftly, all the personal began filing out of the hangar and shut the blast doors behind them, leaving Kiefer and the Titans standing and confused.

As Kiefer was about to walk towards the door and open it by force, the lights in the hangar dimmed and a single circular stand lit up, directing his attention to it. As the lights flickered on the stand a warm orange coloured hologram of a woman appeared standing on the top of it. She was only about 30cm tall, but with the height of the projector stand, she was meeting Kiefer eye to eye.

[Hello. My name is Rowanda. I am the primary Artificial Intelligence construct of this ship. I’m terribly sorry for the rude welcoming but we are all acting under our Captain’s instruction. His top priority is to protect the residents on board this space craft and by no means intended to shut you out. Unfortunately, it would seem that as residents living in this galaxy, your bodies seem to be emitting an unknown radiation that our technicians have been busy dealing with. As a result we cannot allow you to move any further into the ship since our medical staff are still unsure of the effects of said radiation.]

“Wow. This is really advanced.” Kiefer muttered as he swung his hand through the holographic body of Rowanda.

“Kii, what is she saying? I only understood some of it. Is she saying that we are dangerous?” Isana asked, amused by the little lady that seemed so lifelike.

“Essentially yes, but I know how to solve the problem.” Kiefer replied to Isana. The feeling of being avoided because she is dangerous is no stranger to Sher and Isana. They were, after all, titans on Aioa, the strongest beings to exist. Many feared and revered them.

“You guys may feel a little queasy and weak, but the effects should wear off after a while. Just steady yourself.” Kiefer cautioned them as he dispelled his dome and casted another of his wide repertoire of spells. Activating ‘void space’, Kiefer adjusted the power so that it enveloped the entirety of the ship.

In an instant, all throughout the ship, lights began going off and computers shut down. The ship that had been adapted to function in mana was now operating in a space without mana. This left all their instruments essentially with insufficient power due to the reduced voltage that was used to accommodate for the presence of mana.

The titans could feel their mana being siphoned away, not knowing where their mana went. As soon as their body generated the mana, it seemed to disappear the moment it left their bodies. Kiefer smiled, and turned to face the now flickering and unstable Rowanda.

“What’s wrong with her? Is she dying?” Sher asked, looking at the hologram of Rowanda that seemed to break and distort rapidly.

“No, I think she will be fine in a few moments.” Kiefer replied, waiting for the connection to stabilise. Through the instances where Rowanda was connected, he could hear fragments of her speech, barely making out what she was saying.

[Radiation sensors offline…]

[pri…ry power fai…re] (Primary power failure)

[re..jus..ng ship p…wer core] (Readjusting ship power core)

[incr..sing vol…ge in elec…al cir…its] (Increasing Voltage in electrical circuits)

[power stable. Rebooting core ship systems. Running checks on all software. 98% synchronicity with original program. Detecting errors. Fixing errors. Rerunning checks. 100% synchronicity. Reverting to primary objective.]

“You all done Rowanda?” Kiefer asked nonchalantly, chuckling at her software checking procedure.

[Yes. I apologise for that brief intermission. It would seem that the ship’s power failed momentarily, but I’ve found a temporary fix for the problem. Or rather, I’ve removed the temporary fix for a problem that now no longer exists.]

“Can you call the biohazard team back for a second examination? They should find that there is no more radiation anymore. Oh, and also, where should I put these probes?” Kiefer asked politely, pulling the 2 probes out from his PD.

[Please wait a moment while I contact Captain Palmer. For now, please leave the probes where they are. I will redirect one of the drones to check for any malfunctions and extract the data from their memory banks.]

“Master, what did you do? I can feel my mana being suppressed.” Sher asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry Sher, it’s only for a while. While my ‘void space’ is active, there will be no mana in the surroundings. Only I will be able to execute any skills or spells within void space.” Kiefer explained, hoping it would alleviate her worries.

“I see. That’s quite an unfair skill you have Kii, especially since almost everything and everyone is reliant on mana on Aioa.” Isana laughed, unimaginably glad that Kiefer was on her side.

Within the next few minutes, the teletubby team was back in the hangar scanning the titans for any abnormalities. With the preliminary checks cleared, Palmer instructed the teams to guide the family through a more thorough medical scanning pod where they were checked for any and all unknown microbial and viral infectious agents that they might have brought on bought.

Finally, after the titans have been cleared of the regulatory checks, the team of scientists and medical personal took off their helmets and revealed their sweaty but excited looks. This was their first meeting with extra-terrestrials, and intelligent ones at that. As an awkward silence ensued between the 2 parties, the one who broke the silence with his first question released a flood of inquiries by all the others.

Not knowing who to answer first, Kiefer and the titans were flustered by the bombardment, finally being saved when someone yelled, “Captain on Deck!” All the teams quickly shut up and stood where they were, straight as flagpoles. Soldiers they may not be, but Palmer was still in charge in the end, and a certain degree of order, hierarchy and respect was still present.

“Greetings. My name is Alexander Palmer. I am the captain of this space craft. I don’t believe I caught your name in our previous brief conversation.” Palmer greeted, extending his hand.

“My name is Kiefer.” Kiefer replied, shaking the man’s hands firmly. “This is my family. Isana, Shearwood, and Feir. They have a limited understanding of English, but it should be enough for them to get around on the ship.”

What followed that simple and quick greeting was in Sher’s opinion, the longest and most boring 2 hours ever. Kiefer spent that time explaining in detail the key characteristics of Aioa, starting from the geographical layout and the locations of major cities, to its wildlife, inhabitants and their society. Finally, he moved on to the most interesting topic of mana, magic and of course, the titans.

“So you are saying that for some reason, this dead titan transported you here from 2015 earth in order to prevent us from finding this planet through intergalactic travel, help improve this world’s level of technology and to take care of his children who are now your family?” Palmer asked in disbelief.

“That’s about the gist of it, yes.” Kiefer replied.

“So, if a human like you could, as you say ‘use magic’, does that mean eventually, I, along with the rest of humanity on this ship, will be able to as well?” Palmer asked, wondering if he should assign a dedicated research team to studying this ‘magic’.

“That, I can’t be certain, but I suggest you try out a different method from what I did. Experiencing mana for the first time was the most painful thing I had to endure up till that point in my life. I can’t say for sure that it will be everyone’s cup of tea.” Kiefer continued to chat.

“That’s a little inconsistent with what we are experiencing though. Most if not all of the people and plants on the ship have been exposed to a small amount of this radiation since we entered this galaxy, and yet no one’s had any signs of change or suffering as you described.” Palmer continued, gulping down the rest of the water that was in his cup. Conversing for so long had made him a thirsty man.

“Well then I guess we will find out in a few minutes won’t we?” Kiefer replied smugly.

“What do you mean by that?” Palmer asked, now worried of what Kiefer might be intending to do.

“I poured quite a bit of my mana and saturated the water that you just so unsuspectingly gulped down. It should have the same effect as the water I drank from Shearwood’s lake. If it does indeed have an effect on humans, you will probably be writhing on the floor in pain in about 5 minutes.” Kiefer smiled, leaning back into his chair and carefully observing his first test subject in a long time.

[Sir, the medical team is on their way now.] Rowanda replied, having been in on the conversation the whole time.

Within 2 minutes, doctors were barging into the lounge room that they had been situated in and began hooking Palmer up to all sorts of monitoring devices, drawing a sample of his blood to do a toxicology test. A squad of impressively armoured soldiers streamed in and formed a barrier between Kiefer and Palmer, pointing their rifles at the entire family.

“DO NOT MOVE!” The squad leader bellowed as he took a step forward and trained his sights on Kiefer’s temple.

Kiefer yawned, looking lazily at the soldiers, and then tip-toeing to try to look over their shoulders and see Palmer’s condition. Sher was still reaching for the cakes that were laid out on their separate table, gleefully stuffing her mouth with the delicious cakes. Isana looked over at the high alert situation and decided to ignore it altogether, picking up a cookie and dropping it on the floor for Feir to crunch into.

The squad did not know what to make of this situation. Did the family not believe the soldiers were going to pull the trigger, or were they that confident in their own abilities to totally disregard the weapons aimed at their heads? Some of the soldiers shifted nervously, looking to their leader for affirmation. Seeing their leader still aiming his gauss rifle at Kiefer’s head, they stopped faltering and took aim once more.

“I SAID! STOP MOVING! ALL OF YOU!” The leader bellowed once more.

As Kiefer turned around to join cake party that was going on at the other table, a single loud burst rang out. Before anyone could react to turn and see what happened, Kiefer’s golden eyes flashed and a thick silvery rope extended from the ground like a growing vine. The rope was woven from countless individual threads and the frayed end met the metallic projectile head on. As the projectile travelled forwards unwinding the rope from the middle, it slowed down considerably. As the threads unravelled, they rewove to form the rope again behind the projectile, making the rope seem like a snake that just devoured a small animal, with a small bulge in the middle where the projectile was caught.

All that happened before the projectile even came close to Kiefer, who merely scoffed and turned back around to face the squad leader, whose rifle muzzle was a searing red colour from the heat of the electromagnet pulse.

“You can fire all you want. You will not even come close to scratching me. I could have simply deflected your bullet, but that would put others at risk, so think twice before you fire again in an enclosed space where the bullet might ricochet.” Kiefer warned, bring the small grey bullet closer and letting it fall onto his open palms. Without warning, he infused the bullet with mana and set it on fire with his mana flare ability. A blue-silver flame engulfed the bullet and it disappeared without a trace, not even a wisp of smoke.

Peeking through the gaps between the squad, Kiefer spied on the now shocked Captain Palmer. He seemed alright, breathing as normal, with a steady heartrate of 57bpm. Smiling, he made his way towards the captain as the squad opened up a path for him.

“Well captain, I don’t know if this is good news or bad news for you, but it would seem that normal humans are not capable of retaining or even utilising mana. Seeing as how you are not passed out from the pain, I can say for certain that mana has no adverse effects on you, even in large doses. Aren’t you glad that little experiment panned out nicely?” Kiefer asked the dumbfounded Captain.

“Well, like you said, I don’t know if this is good or bad news.” Palmer replied, quickly recovering from the shock. “I’m just worried how we will fare against your so called magicians if we do indeed come to some form of conflict with the residents of this world. As you’ve said before, there are a variety of species of intelligent life down there and I’m sure those so called ‘demi-humans’ you spoke of wouldn’t be too happy about another 8 million humans joining the fray.”

After pausing to unhook the monitoring devices on him, much to the disapproval of all the doctors on the scene, Palmer dismissed the squad and returned to the table once more. He sat down across from Kiefer while the other titans continued with their snacks on the adjacent table. After a short moment of silence, thinking deeply to himself, he finally continued the conversation.

“Going back to what we were talking about before you revealed that you spiked my water, how is it that you can perform magic while I can’t even be affected by mana? You claimed you were from earth and all evidence seems to point towards the fact as well. So why the difference?” Palmer asked curiously.

“That, I’m not too sure myself. Personally, I wouldn’t mind going through some detailed medical exams myself. It’s been a while since I last got myself checked and I too am wondering what makes me so different.” Kiefer replied.

“So that’s it? Do you want to follow my doctors to the med bay for a detailed analysis? I’m sure it will provide us with much needed information on the biology of the lifeform down there.” Palmer agreed to his idea.

“Of course. But in exchange, I want to be given the authority to use the particle accelerator I saw just now from outside to study mana. I have my own hypothesis, but I’d prefer to keep them to myself before understanding anything concrete. And also, my family and I want a tour around your ship. Impressive as it seems, I won’t know what to expect until I actually see the interiors of every section.” Kiefer bargained.

He had been itching to have a go at a proper laboratory to study the mana particles using the proper equipment. The collider he had seen encircling the ship at its waist was like a godsend, making him undeniably happy to finally be able to resume his career.

“Of course. Rowanda can handle the tour with the other AI constructs. As for your usage of the accelerator, would you like me to assign a team of researchers to help?” Palmer asked, surprising Kiefer with his cooperativeness.

“Yes please, that will be much appreciated. Also, I know you are worried about your own people’s safety when they land on Aioa. Given my earlier performance, I assure you that I am about the only one who is able to do that. Most magic on the planet is still in the early stages of development. No one has gotten further than throwing around some fire or mud, nothing that your soldiers can’t handle. Wildlife wise, I’d suggest infrared or thermal vision to be extra sure. Your weapons should be able to penetrate most of their hides or scales. Anytime you are prepared to send a landing party, inform me so I can send Feir along to guide them.” (Kiefer)

[Hello again Mr Kiefer. If you would follow the lights, I shall guide you on a tour around Hope. Rosalind will take over in the civilian section, Rosana on military, Romanov on Science and engineering, and finally Rodana on Support and Propulsion systems.]

Kiefer was not one to miss the hints. The AI’s names all started with the same 2 letters, which could only mean they were acronyms for something. Seeing Kiefer’s brows frown as he fell into deep guesswork, palmer easily understood what he was trying to figure out.

“The RO stands for Regulatory Operanda. And as for the all female names, there is no reason other than – why not?” Palmer smiled smugly.

As Kiefer and the titans left the lounge, he turned around and caught a glimpse of Palmer’s solemn face as he began barking out orders like a pain-in-the-ass Commander. The next 24 hours were spent on Hope, exploring the space craft’s interior. Kiefer never would have imagined that each of the 3 rotating cylinders that made up the bulk of the ship’s main body would actually house entire ecosystems with artificial weather simulation.

There were rivers, grasslands and even farms next to the residential district in each civilian cylinder. Through the centripetal force of the rotation, they created artificial gravity. The River was running smoothly above head on the other side of the cylinder’s wall as he saw children playing soccer in a field nearby. As high-tech as the ship was, the residential district was constructed to look like it was at most in the early 21st century, not too long from when he departed earth.

Being bored with exploring the technical side of the ship, Sher and Feir stayed behind in the residential cylinder and instantly merged into the group of kids playing. Kiefer and Isana smiled as they left the 2 titans to their own antics and continued with the tour, ending with Kiefer’s medical exam.

The scans and multiple probing finally revealed what was really the difference between Kiefer and the other humans. Not sure if it was because he was a titan, or because he was ‘reborn’ that way, Kiefer could only conclude that he needed more samples of humans from Aioa to understand fully.

Looking at the Composite scans of his head from different angles, Kiefer sighed and felt around the back of his head, just above his neck. He could not feel the difference, but there was definitely an extra, unknown mass attached to his brainstem. The livestream scans revealed high activity in the unknown brain mass whenever Kiefer released his mana, only to have the machine burn out quickly. When Grandu (The balancer) had said he tweaked with his head a little, Kiefer had not expected it to mean literally adding an entirely new section of the brain.

With most of his objectives completed, Kiefer decided to take a break before proceeding to start working with the particle accelerator. As Isana returned to their assigned quarters with Sher and Feir, Kiefer and the titans quickly fell asleep in the beds provided. It’s been a long day, but an eventful and worthwhile one.

[[Meanwhile, back on Aioa]]

The grounds of Grandu continent began to rumble as everyone began scrambling to get onto a boat. Dwarves, humans, ratmen, and Arachne girls alike were all frantically diving into the waters as the tremours turned into full scale earthquakes.

The ground split under their feet, only to convulse and spit out molten lava from within the cracks. The boats tried to leave the docks and the continent as quickly as they could, but seemed to be impeded by the winds and the tides. The heartless sped off on their own while the noble and selfless stayed on their boats, rescuing any that had attempted to flee the disaster by swimming.

They watched from their helms as the continent’s morphology changed rapidly, Mountains crumbling and new ones taking their place, taller and sharper than ever. They could only pray for any of the poor souls destined to be trapped within the mines or anywhere too far inland to make it to the shore.

“Finally… Only 5 Titans left to obliterate… I’ve rested long enough. The mana catastrophe must have been a result of the others fighting amongst themselves. I can’t sense anyone else other than the birds.” The colossal titan thought to himself in a deep grumbling voice. He had been lying in wait for the prime opportunity to return, to dominate over the others, to finally claim this world for himself. “I have strength enough, but more is always welcome.” He thought to himself as the seafloor split open and swallowed incredible amounts of seawater, along with anyone and anything unfortunate enough to be caught in the tidal pools that formed.

The continent was void of life within 30minutes of the first tremor, all either having fled or consumed by the colossal titan. “DESIR!” A telepathic message blasted out from the convulsing continent. “Answer the call of your master.” The continent began drifting towards the south, creating massive tsunamis that were comparable to the mountains that now carpeted the entirety of the continent.

A few souls barely made it out of the calamity alive, leaving in the darkness of the night, guided only by the light of the twin moons. The lucky few were those that chose to stay and help. Though small in numbers, that was what actually saved them since the concentration of mana and souls were not high enough to attract the attention of the Titan. He had instead chosen to sink and swallow up the majority that ran with their own lives, only to inevitable forsake it in a moment of their selfishness.

They watched in silence as the Continent moved away from them, not because they were sailing, but because it was actually moving on its own. Nobody knew what to think. Nobody knew what had happened, only to know they are glad to have kept their tiny insignificant lives in the face of nature’s worst.

With darkness as his cover, a snake no smaller than Shearwood was flying through the clouds towards the moving continent. Unlike his sister, he did not have wings, but instead had spikes covering the entirety of his back, looking like an elongated porcupine. He was pitch black in colour, with very hardly discernible black eyes which blended in with the rest of the body. An occasional green puff of smoke would rise from its nostrils, trailing along the face as it flew through the clouds.

“DESIR… Heed your master’s call. It is time to act. The other titans are weak from their fight. We shall strike while the iron is hot. Find your sister. Pull her out of her hiding and bring her over to our side.” Gondor ordered telepathically, as the giant black snake suddenly swerved and changed direction, heading for the main continent now.

[[On Hope]]

“Sir! I’ve detected massive tectonic shifts on the planet sir. Should we investigate further before preparing a landing party?” One of palmer’s officers reported as he watched the scanners on his screen feed him information in real time.

“Rowanda. See if you can contact Kiefer. I could use some input on this.” Palmer requested, staring into the screen so hard he could bore a whole through it. Any entire continent was moving on it’s own right before his eyes. Secretly, he began wondering if this planet was at all safe to live on and wondered how the inhabitants had managed to even survive this long.

Within minutes, Kiefer had woken up, freshened up and race through the zero gravity corridors and onto the bridge of Hope. He looked at all the unsure and confused faces of the officers and saw from the corner of his eye what the issue was. Without Palmer even explaining the situation, Kiefer spoke first, breaking the deathly silence in the room.

“Palmer. What is the biggest weapon you have on this ship? We are going to war soon.”

Welp, as many of you might have guessed it, The end of the arc is coming soon. The final battle with Gondor looms overhead. Since this is as good a timing as ever, I am just going to make the tinsiest announcement that im sure many if not most of you are going to hate.

Starting from the next arc, I will be switching to weekly or twice weekly releases. That is of course after i take a short break to plan out the details of my arc. I have the rough sketches done already, with the plot in mind, but i just need to iron out some details.