“So, which way do you think they went?” John’s voice filled the forest air as the three of them, Tim, Luna, and himself, stood at an unusual crossroad on the hiking trail. Unusual because their trail was suddenly bisected by overgrowth that was absolutely unnatural.

“I told you I won’t babysit you John. Figure it out on your own,” Tim responded with a derisive snort.

“Oh? Well maybe I wasn’t asking you, space fairy. Considering how useless—”

“Dad! Cut it out already,” Luna said, deflating him. Before Tim could chime in, she turned to him as well and said, “And you, Tim, shut up unless you have something useful to say. Gods, who’s even the adult here?” She moaned as she started pulling at a few strands of hair frustratedly.

“Not me! I was born yesterday,” Tim happily replied to her obviously rhetorical question. Luna didn’t reward him with a verbal response, and instead glared at him until he mimed a tongue clicking noise and floated upwards a few feet above their heads.

John sighed. Letting Tim take a lead role in their survival activities was sounding more and more like a mistake. The prideful ball of light let it go to his head instantly and the two of them had bickered for most of their hour-long foray into the woods. His daughter had put up with it for a while, but clearly she didn’t enjoy the antics.

“Sorry Lulu,” John said with a wry smile, “You’re right. We need to focus up here.”

She huffed in response, and John took the opportunity to mess up her hair again.

Before them, the path through the forest was divided by a perpendicular line of tangled plants in various states of decay. There were numerous flowers, shrubs, trees, and grasses all twisted together in a waist high path that cut a remarkably straight line through the woods.

On the other side, their hiking trail continued unabated. Clearly whatever occurred here happened fairly recently, as the decently traveled path disappeared under the mess of plant matter to the point that it was indistinguishable from the rest of the aberrant growth.

They could choose to follow the path by wading through the plants, or they could follow the distinctly strange perpendicular path by trekking through the woods themselves. John erred on the cautious side as a matter of principle, doubly so considering Luna was with him.

But would Charlie have done the same? After all, they were looking for him as well as Sam and Melanie. Unfortunately, John had no way of being sure. In all honesty, it was possible that the three of them had long since diverged from the trail. It wasn’t like John had any sort of tracking skills that could tell him otherwise.

While he was internally debating what to do, Luna took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The action alone wouldn’t have been enough to draw John’s attention, but he distinctly felt something about her shift and undulate briefly before it began to slowly fade.

It was like some kind of sixth sense, he remarked. An intuitive feeling that went was beyond what his five senses could pick up otherwise, and was as clear as day despite its brevity. Luna opened her eyes with a huff of bated breath as a flush of exertion spread across her face.

“Let me try something,” she said. Before he could ask her what she was doing, she stepped into the adjacent underbrush and began walking parallel to the path of strange growth.

A few paces in, she crouched down and began searching through the leaves and various forest detritus that cluttered the area. As if guided by something, her hands combed through pile after pile of forest detritus. After about a minute however, she stood up with a confused look on her face.

“What are you doing?” John asked. He figured she was probably doing some kind of magic based on the movements he felt, but he was far from being able to tell what those motions of her energies meant. If that was what he was feeling anyway.

“The manual said it was basic augury… Like it was supposed to tell me something I wanted to know? It sort of pointed me this way, I think, but I don’t think I even know what I’m looking for.” She answered.

Some kind of augury? Like divination? John stroked his chin in thought. There wasn’t much of a beard there to stroke, but he mimicked the action anyway.

“Do you think we can trust it?” He asked.

“I don’t know,” she responded. “It just feels like it’s pulling me this way.” As she spoke, she gazed down the line of odd decaying plants that bisected the forest.

Well, John thought it was better than a 50/50 at least.

“I guess we go that way then. I trust you.” He flashed her the best fatherly smile he could manage. Better to support his budding sorceress than to deny her, right? At his words of approval, Luna smiled and nodded.

They would have to travel through the woods, but that wasn’t a huge problem in this neck of Pennsylvania. Most of the undergrowth, besides the strangely overgrown path at least, was very low due to the lack of sunlight that filtered through the canopies. Instead, there were a multitude of twisted vines that hung from tree trunks and tree branches alike and a few scattered bushes that tried to absorb what little sunlight reached them.

It was beautiful, but John was more worried about what creatures may be lurking above. Maybe most of them would remain docile, but others like the squirrel he fought earlier may try their luck.

If that happened, he would just have to do his best.

They started trudging through the woods, keeping parallel to the overgrown line of treeless forest as best they could. It wasn’t always possible, as the occasional bunch of prickly bushes blocked their way, but the two of them generally kept line of sight with the unconventional path nonetheless as Tim hovered above.

The three at first engaged in some light conversation. It was mostly about cultivation, which served to frustrate Tim further. As far as John was concerned, the mouthless space fairy could bite him.

Luna explained to him that one of the primary techniques she learned was to achieve some kind of close-range minor divination by circulating her inner energies in a pattern through her meridians. As a celestial natured human, she explained that her meridians were more like nodes of light than veins. To perform her augury, she was essentially bridging gaps between them like the lines of a constellation.

John was genuinely surprised to hear that meridians existed in their new world, even if they were fairly dissimilar to the ones of their old world. Tim had then scoffed annoyedly in response, and told him he should have expected it. Extremely basic cultivation was theoretically possible pre-reintegration to the multiverse, apparently, though Tim wasn’t really sure how.

It wasn’t exactly a studiable phenomenon before the dawn of time.

Therefore, John was intrigued to learn that the legendary cultivation myths of the Eastern world may actually be true. Unfortunately, he would have no way of experimenting with his own body considering he lacked the human characteristic of meridians or anything similar.

Go figure.

Eventually, the conversation died down as the three of them paid more attention to their surroundings. John was okay with that though, and he thoroughly enjoyed the relative silence of their woodland journey.

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Tim floated silently above his two bumbling charges as they stumbled through the woods in the awkward gait of pre-reintegration humans. They would improve quickly, he was sure, but the sight was amusing nonetheless. The father-daughter pair were outwardly not much to look at, but Tim knew better than to discount their abilities.

John was an obvious case, one which he had decisively given up on forming conclusions about. Given the nature of his condition, that was unsurprising to the programmed intelligence within himself. Instead, what truly confounded Tim was that he still wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with John’s daughter.

The mastery which Luna demonstrated over her Celestial nature was entirely unnatural for someone of her level, even among relatively rare individuals from the old multiverse. She was a prodigy in the fullest meaning of the word.

The fact that she was performing basic divinations with the little divine energy she had gathered was testament to the fact. John’s daughter was beyond exceptional. It only then stood to reason that her parents would be at least exceptional in their own right, but John’s body was an unintelligible mess and her mother was out of Tim’s sight.

He sighed, a uniquely human trait he found himself making use of with greater frequency. It was a conundrum that would require further analysis.

For the time being, Tim was going to have a lot of work on his hands to keep the two abberants by his side. John had already proven easily exploitable in spite of his uncanny ability to put Tim on the back foot, so he could only hope things would remain that way in the future.

Through the quests he imagined, he would make himself indispensable. Even if it was frustrating for him to act so delicately with the relatively unintelligent creatures. If he could use them to gather enough contributions, he could ‘expire’ and return to the Manifold a King.

Then, no other space fairies— AEIs, would be able to look down on him. At the intrusive thought, Tim grit his imaginary teeth. The annoying human’s mannerisms were beginning to rub off on him in a way that discomforted him greatly even though he oddly enjoyed it. Having an identity was strange for an artificial creature such as himself.

That too would require further analysis.

In other news the older human they were looking for wasn’t too bad either. Even if he wasn’t aware of it, Tim suspected that Charlie had been utilizing some mostly-dormant aspects of his nature before the reintegration process. It was a truly impressive feat that surprised him greatly when he was analyzing the older man’s body and formulating a cultivation method for him.

Now, however, he was beginning to worry about just how impressive a feat it was.

If he went by his previous assessment of Earth, it was an unquestionably rare talent for the primitive relatives of his Progenitor. However, the more Tim existed in the newly-reintegrated Earth, the more he began to fear the rapidity of its awakening. He had repeatedly updated his assessment of the planet from the first morning, and even now it continued to rise steadily.

His charges’ talents, especially Luna’s, now threatened to push his assessment in a frightening direction.

Tim shuddered as he calculated how these revelations would change his assertion of Earth. As far as he could tell, there were only a few outcomes that made sense considering his experiences.

The first was that these three individuals were uniquely special on Earth, and he was unlikely to find many other such talented individuals. While it would prove to be an incredible coincidence if this were true, it was also evidenced by the more mundanely talented Sam and Melanie humans. They were more of the level he would have expected with his previous calculations.

The second was that this specific location was more inundated with energy than the rest, allowing talents to blossom in humans and animals alike. This was certainly possible, but Tim had no way of knowing it was true without experiencing more of the world.

The third was that Progenitor Archaeon was exceedingly lucky with his Seed planet, and the entirety of Earth was a few levels higher than he thought. It was a troubling revelation, as that would place them in exceedingly greater danger than he originally theorized. Evidence towards this conclusion was building faster than its unlikelihood fought back against it.

Ultimately, he decided that Earth likely lay somewhere between the three possibilities. Identifying exactly where would require even more analysis, Tim begrudgingly admitted.

He was distracted from his thoughts of the future as John’s daughter began to once again mobilize her energies with unbelievable efficiency for someone of her level. She was terribly inept at reading the results of her divinations, but with more experience she would become a monster.

Tim sighed.

Humans were normally scary in the old-multiverse. They were beings of incredible flexibility and ingenuity, which allowed them to form powerful empires in the old-multiverse that could rival even the objectively more talented species that inhabited the multiverse. But these two humans in particular were beyond anything Tim’s poorly configured records had the means to identify.

That could mean a number of things, from poor planning on Archaeon’s part to a disruption of his programming before reintegration to truly incredible luck. Tim wasn’t sure which hypothesis was more likely to be correct, or which he feared more.

Additional additional analysis would be required. For now, he followed the two of them in calculative silence as they continued onwards. He’d have to insult them some more next time he spoke. That always made him feel better.

✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

John watched his daughter repeat her augury for the fifth time. They had already left the path of tangled plants about forty minutes ago, a decision which neither of them took lightly. It required a prolonged conversation and a lot of pestering Tim before they managed to get a spitefully worded confirmation that Luna could trust her instincts.

The space fairy was clearly unhappy about something, but John wasn’t too worried. After all, it wasn’t like he gave hints to where they should go in any way that directly impacted their ‘quest’. Luna only asked for clarification about her own abilities, which she then shared with him immediately afterwards.

That seemed to incense the space fairy even further, but if Tim wanted to play the silent game John wasn’t about to stop him. Why would he intentionally sour his thus-far peaceful journey through the woods? He instead simply shook his head silently.

“I think we’re getting close,” Luna said when she finally finished. She was panting lightly, as if she had just physically exerted herself, and her face was flushed with effort. Nevertheless, a confident smile shone brightly on her face. “That was the best one yet, I think.”

John felt proud watching his daughter feel proud about something.

“Good work, Lulu. Let that be the last one for now. You need time to recover, else you’ll end up like your old man and pass out.” John wasn’t exactly sure what the difference between their usages of divine energy meant for its aftereffects, but it sounded like drain was a problem for everyone eventually.

“Sure,” she agreed with a small chuckle. John smiled at that, glad that his daughter was beginning to laugh again despite their circumstances.

The two then walked in the direction Luna had identified with eyes peeled. John couldn’t deny that the hours of peaceful hiking through the wilderness had dulled his wariness, but he did make an attempt.

He just found the serenity of the woods to be intoxicating. It was quiet, perhaps unnaturally so, but so was the parking lot they had previously staked out in. Here at least he could enjoy the dense natural scenery, the deep earthy smells of damp wood and moss, and the fresh air of uncivilized lands.

Before he knew it, John’s mind was much more focused on enjoying the atmosphere than paying attention to their surroundings. Thus, he wasn’t the first one to recognize the frantic shuffling of feet through fallen leaves coming from their right. His daughter stopped in front of him and he bumped into her, causing him to follow her gaze out into the woods.

From behind the trees, came the barreling figure of Charlie.

“Hey, your auguries worked,” John began as he raised his hand to high-five his daughter. “Good job Lu—”

“No time to explain,” The lumbering man loudly cut John off with his hands waving. As he winced from the movement, John noticed Sam and Melanie similarly gasping for air as they chased after him. Charlie barely slowed, however, and he made a quick judgement. “Luna, grab yer father and run!”

They didn’t move at first, looking at each other quizzically even as the trio plundered past them.

“John,” Tim called out from above them, “I was going to insult you, but you really should just run.”

“What? What are you even talking about?” John was confused. There were no ferocious growls or rumbling footsteps of some giant monster, so why was everyone so rushed? The forest remained entirely tranquil but for the newly-arrived trio’s own footsteps as they fled the scene. If they weren’t in immediate danger, why wouldn’t they stop to talk?

“Luna, take your idiot father and GO,” Tim demanded with an unsteady voice, already backing away in the direction Charlie and the other two had run.

“Dad come on!” Luna screamed as she yanked his arm along with her. He stumbled a bit from the force of her pull, inadvertently falling into a light trot behind his daughter. John’s eyes remained fixated behind him, however, desperate to see what could have rattled even Tim so much.

Then again, John thought with a bit of disbelief, he distinctly recalled Tim screaming much more about the squirrel from earlier.

Then, at the extremity of his vision, John saw it. The forest itself bent and shifted to accommodate the casual approach of a deer with the most beautiful antlers he had ever seen. They were beyond extravagant, twisting and branching spires of bone that he was surprised could be held on a deer’s head. In its wake, an abundance of plant life sprouted from the earth and filled the expanded space in a tangled mess.

Its seemingly casual approach, John realized as fear began to creep into his heart. The bending of space around it allowed the deer to travel much more quickly than its walking speed would normally entail.

His heart began to hammer in his chest, and with it John’s legs finally burst into action. He and Luna quickly fell into a sprint that would catch them up with the older man in a few dozen seconds as any hopes he had for another monster squirrel was sheared from his mind.

“What the hell is that?” John asked between desperate huffs. He thought the evolved squirrel from earlier was supposed to be an example of a relatively quick power spike, but clearly he was wrong. Whatever that deer behind them was was so far beyond anything John had expected based on what Tim had told them about the reintegration process.

It felt almost regal, and walked with such casual surety that the forest was its own that he was overwhelmed with the feeling that he was trespassing. It could have been his imagination, but he swore that he felt animosity radiating from the creature. John could only hope that the deer’s casual walk was a result of its power and not it toying with them.

“That,” Tim began with such frustration that John could feel his imaginary teeth gnash, “is what we call an Aberrant. A contender for King of this forest. I’m going to need time to recalibrate again.”

John didn’t have the breath to respond, however, as he was far too focused on escaping the monstrosity behind them. He gripped his daughter’s hand tightly and focused on Charlie’s back through the trees in front of them. If his rapidly firing neurons were correct, their best bet was to find the Tree of Warding and hope it would do as advertised.

If it couldn’t, they were probably screwed either way. It didn’t take much brain power to determine that fighting the thing would probably end poorly for them. If the damn thing was bending space, there was no telling what other magical abilities it possessed. John wasn't planning on finding out.

“This planet is fucked,” Tim muttered with a barely audible voice before sighing deeply.

He was starting to agree.