It was a beautiful day. Birds were chirping, the sun was beaming, and nary a cloud marred the sky's perfection.

What a shame it was, then, that such a classic rendition would be ruined by the procession of troops marching across the horizon.

In the center of this mass of soldiers was their commander in chief, King Lundgren of Laus. He held a grand ambition for his nation. Growing up in Laus, he had adopted an undying love and pride for his country. Such a mentality was conditioned into nearly everyone within this militaristic state. Thus, like many others of his kin, he wished to expand its borders throughout all the land in order to share its greatness with the world. Under a single banner, the vast continent of Elibe would be united at last.

His escorts made way for an approaching messenger. "My lord! Our forces have surrounded the Pheraen capital's walls!"

"Good. Send word to begin invading the capital and quelling any signs of rebellion. I will join the front lines myself shortly, and secure the last remaining kingdom on Elibe. For the glory of Laus!"

"For the glory of Laus!" The intermediary saluted before heading back to the vanguard.

Lundgren's conquest of Elibe did not progress the way he thought it would. A large scale campaign should grow more difficult from resource exhaustion and dispersion of military units. And yet, the march into Pherae was met with virtually no resistance whatsoever!

It would appear as though the rumors held true. The Pheraen people clung to their faith so tightly that they neglected their defenses entirely, save for a few guardsmen to deal with the occasional beast or bandit group. While such a system of governance allowed them to live in relative peace and prosperity, they were fools if they thought they could do such a thing with neighboring kingdoms ready to take advantage of their vulnerability.

And thus, Lundgren added the final piece of Elibe to Laus' empire. He had never imagined that it would be filled with helpless sheep that believed in an imaginary shepherd to watch over and protect them. Goddess of War, Seryuah? Preposterous.

WHOOSH!

A massive gust of wind swept the area, carrying with it all the units occupying the capital! What was truly inconceivable was how they all landed harmlessly, even amidst the horde of men that made up the second wave. This incredible display of power and control! Lundgren searched frantically for whomever the perpetrator might be.

SWISH!

Another, smaller burst of wind created a clearing out of his army in front of him. As he focused on the figure in the center, his worst fears were confirmed. Gleaming white armor... winged regalia... striking blue hair... a deep scar on her right eye...

His knees gave out beneath him at the revelation. To think that he would be crowned a fool this day, for not believing in the legends! There was only one thing he could do in the face of divinity.

Beg for mercy. "O' gracious queen of Pherae! Goddess of swords and magic! This impudent soul pleads for mercy from your wrath!"

"That's... odd." The thought went through Seryuah's head as she surveyed her homeland for the first time in ages from the roof of a watchtower. For the locals, at least; time displacement between universes was a common thing, and for universe FEB-07-S, their timescale moved at a rate nearly ten times as quickly compared to Regis'. As a result, her 30 year hiatus had translated to over 200 years passing by for her place of origin.

However, that wasn't what struck her as out of place. What did were the thousands of foreign soldiers currently taking over her capital. She promptly flung them out of her property using some wind magic, alongside the flags they just started to hang all over the place. Psionic levitation would've been a lot cleaner, but it's been a while since she's used wind, and she didn't want to get too rusty. Immediately, she identified the leader of this band of rabble-rousers, made fairly obvious by the jeweled crown and fancy fur-lined robes he was wearing. She blew aside a couple of trebuchets obstructing her flight path before landing in front of him.

"O' gracious queen of Pherae! Goddess of swords and magic! This impudent soul pleads for mercy from your wrath!"

Wait, what? Did she become a religion since the time she's been away? Well, considering how she only came to visit every now and again, combined with the 'miracles' she performed if disaster happened to coincidentally strike during these visits, that wasn't too far-fetched of a conclusion. It has been two local millennia since Seryuah was known as the Unscathed Weaponsmaster, after all; any written records of her past self have probably already faded to dust, while carved records had their meanings misinterpreted.

None of it was very concerning, but it was bothersome. She decided to try and rectify the situation a little.

"You're the leader of all these people?"

"Y-yes! I am Lundgren, King of Laus. A thousand, thousand apologies for my impertinen-"

"Stop. Enough of that." Gushing of praise and self-demeaning remarks from an individual were not something Seryuah wished to bear witness to. "I just want to make it absolutely clear that I am not a goddess. Never have, never will be. Do me a favor and spread the word."

"Uh?" Lundgren could hardly believe his ears at this denouncement. At the same time, they were words that came out of Seryuah's own mouth, so what was he supposed to do except believe? "Most assuredly, I shall! B-but... I fear that no one would be able to fathom such a claim, your majesty."

That's right. Convincing the populace that anything short of a deity could have driven out the forces of Laus was indeed a difficult task, emphasized by the murmurs rumbling throughout the surrounding army. Uprooting this religious influence would require careful attention and time. While she had plenty to spare for both, she would rather not. Which brought an idea to mind that she probably should have implemented a long time ago.

"Don't worry about it. I'll handle it myself soon enough, but I'd appreciate you giving me a head start in your Laus empire." Of course, she spoke only a half-truth when she said she would do it 'herself'. What she really planned on doing was installing an android to serve as a permanent monarch for Pherae. It wouldn't become a suzerain state, but an isolationist one. All of its future actions would be not dissimilar to what Seryuah herself might have done.

"A... head start, your majesty?"

She should probably tone down the use of foreign lingo in the android, too. "The details aren't important. Just know that the next time your soldiers encroach upon my borders, you will be removed from your position."

"I wouldn't even t-think of it!"

"Feel free to return home now."

"At once!" The relieved King of Laus was eager to get as far away from Pheraen territory as soon as possible, lest he tarry and upset such powerful opposition any further. He rose and announced to his soldiers their immediate departure from these lands.

Seryuah could not help but notice how their red garbs gave them the semblance of fire ants swarming on the hills. She toyed around with the idea of sweeping them up in another zephyr so that they wouldn't trample all over the grass, but chose not to in the hopes that a walk would do them all some good.

She flew back to the dimensional gateway instead of teleporting, allowing her to take in the scenery. The rolling hills of turf and unblemished skies made for a quaint environment in between marks of medieval civilization. Of course, one could find this sort of view in many other universes, but this moment held somewhat of an especial significance for her: It was quite likely that she would never return here.

After landing at her destination, she brought out a spare Replicator from her Portable Cyberspace Module. Some liked to call it by its abbreviated form, PCM. Most would refer to it by its umbrella term, Storage, as there were many other items or methods that accomplished the same feat, whether through martial arts, magic, or science. Once the preprogrammed functions were initialized, it went to work copying Seryuah's outward appearance and integrating her uploaded files into its behavioral matrix. As it was a metamorphic tool and not a specialized one, the construct ended up at the Advanced level, which was already enough for its intended purpose.

She gazed at her surroundings one more time. Admittedly, there were no sentimental ties to this place any longer, except through her little brother. She didn't want to disappoint her last surviving blood relative by letting their homeland fall into disarray.

Yes, he was all she had left. Their mother and father had both died after being drafted into a war between kingdoms, leaving behind a ten-year old Seryuah to take care of her little brother in their stead. Even though they had obtained the power to revive their parents after their experiences in Regis, to their utter dismay, they found out that it was impossible to prevent them from dying once more. Well, there was one way, but her brother would never allow such a thing. Manipulating the flows of time grew more and more difficult the 'further' one strayed from the primary timeline; although almost, if not all, things were possible at any given point in time, the strain it placed on a universe depending on how 'illogical' of a change was enacted could tear it apart. This universe was fairly ordinary from not being privy to temporal actions, and somewhat weak from having an average power level of Basic, so it was rather stiff in this regard. Pulling individuals out from their respective universe's timelines would require the total collapse of that universe, and when it came to dealing with the lives of others, Seryuah couldn't bear to let her sibling witness the death of even one.

If this universe had an after-death system, the entire process would have been incredibly simple. Alas, the most that they could do was bring their parents back to life to live out the rest of their mortal days making up for lost family time. Anything beyond that would go too far against the parameters allowed from choosing that particular timeline. A false world in the shape of Pherae set several years after their parents' death, and a convincing story that their parents had disappeared in the interim due to being hit by a strange enemy spell, allowed them to pass off the appearance of a heartfelt reunion with a bewildered, temporally-displaced couple.

Sister and father joined the village's hunting party, while brother and mother started up a bakery. Occasionally, they would head out on family trips to the capital, attending concerts, jousting competitions, magic duels, or even just shopping for souvenirs to bring back. It was a good, simple life. One that they had imagined they could have had, were it not for the circumstances that befell them. Not a moment passed throughout the experience when Seryuah wanted to speak out and let her parents know that they didn't have to die, but she didn't want to test the infallibility of the established temporal science. She imagined her brother may have felt the same, but if he did, it never showed. He was always the more warm and amiable of the two. Far too soon, their parents were on their deathbeds. Many tears were shed that day, mostly by the two siblings, but the moment was a cathartic one that they didn't regret in the slightest.

"Don't weep, my children... your father and I will always watch over you..."

"Stay strong. Both of you..."

Seryuah reflexively grabbed the hand that was tapping her shoulder. She realized immediately afterward that it was her proxy attempting to deduce her current state of mind after she had begun daydreaming. A wry grin plastered itself onto her face. It would appear she still had yet to truly get over that particular affair. Not that it would affect her in any way except during moments alone when she had time to think to herself.

After sending off the newly made android, Seryuah directed her gaze aimlessly upward before speaking. "Ma... Pa... I don't really believe in any religion. The fact that all the self-proclaimed deities I've come across were really just pompous figureheads, and that their afterlives could so easily be torn down by some random jerk, I just can't find myself putting faith in a catch-all paradise. But... on the off-chance you're still out there... if your souls are still aware, and intact, I..." She couldn't bring herself to finish that thought. Instead, she shook her head as if to free herself of grief, beamed up at the sky like in one of those movies she'd seen, and turned to finally leave this universe behind. She was somewhat ashamed of resorting to cultural media influence at the end, but nothing else would come to mind.

Contrary to what one might infer from the name, dimensional gateways were not monumental constructs that created an opening to leave universes from at the push of a button. Actually, there usually weren't even any visual cues to work with. Instead, they were faults, weaknesses in the integrity of a universe that were far easier and safer to rip open a hole at than just any other random location. Despite its relative safety, however, it was still important to treat the whole process with care in order to avoid issues like dimensional runoff; while an open rift would eventually close or at least clot up, a great deal of universal laws and energies could leak in the meantime, resulting in...

Well. Let's just say that the last universe to have that happen lost all of its color and sound, with the inhabitants none the wiser.

Seryuah took out a standard issue transdimensional device. It was a bulky, circular, orange thing whose only real flaw was the aesthetic. Function over form, and all that. Then again, as someone who didn't traverse the multiverse all that frequently, Seryuah never found the need to go through the hassle of making a custom model of her own. Setting it on the ground, she activated the contraption and it went to work. Multiple scanners within fed the machine information about its surroundings, allowing it to begin emitting the precise combination of energy waves needed to ground away at the stability of the universe. The end result was a singularity that led straight into the beyond.

A black hole singularity's entry process would involve having one's matter stretch so thinly to the point where they would become like fine spaghetti due to the intense gravitational pull of an extremely dense core. If they were unlucky and missed their trajectory, they would end up orbiting the thing as well. A gateway singularity, on the other hand, was a breach in the universe's dimensional membrane. It was more akin to opening the door of a ship in space, where the interior of the ship would be subject to a violent outrush of air. Once the air was fully evacuated though, anything remaining would be free-floating.

The machine functioned similarly to an airlock. Prior to the perforation, it generated an artificial membrane to seal off the area from the rest of the universe, preventing it from mending its own 'wound'. Within minutes, the insides of the cylindrical enclosure were bleached white. More energy waves were shot out to enlarge the rupture. A *ding* sounded from the machine, waking Seryuah up from her nap and letting her know that it was finished.

She delved straight in. Once it detected that its task was complete, the device folded itself into a more compact form and followed after her, unleashing one last burst of energy to shut the portal behind it. After everything was settled, the only evidence left behind was a round patch of flattened grass from where the machine once sat.

In the white void, after collecting the device back into Storage, Seryuah was left with nothing to do but think. She could nap again, but she never really trusted the in-between.

Right now she was wondering why the in-between of dimensions was an endless white. Space was black, so why wasn't this place? Perhaps the exterior of a universe was colored white, and ambient light permeated the area from the energy of leftover dimensional runoff? Maybe universes were translucent, and it was the ends of the multiverse that were colored white? A contentious point of discussion, for sure. One she believed she could bring up the next time she felt pressured to start up a casual conversation.

A silhouette in the distance caught her eye. Hooded cloak, withered pale hands, gnarled scythe? It was the eldritch abomination known as Amenti Gespenst!

Pretty nice guy.

His floating red ball of light for an eye shifted in her direction underneath his hood. Seryuah raised her hand in greeting, and Amenti responded with one of his own.

After appreciating his choice of brown for a moment, she realized she was still wearing her armor. That went away into Storage, and in its place was a red zip-up hoodie, white t-shirt, blue jeans, and sneakers. Fashion never intrigued her all that much, since she preferred casual clothing.

With that out of the way, the two travelers continued on in silence. Not the awkward kind, where participants would shift around uncomfortably while anxiously trying to come up with something to say. This was a type of content quietude between individuals who didn't speak much. For Seryuah at least, she didn't mind talking if necessary, but she was afraid of disrupting the flow of banter. She attributed her social inexperience to her time spent as a soldier back in her adolescent years. Wait, no, that's not right. She only had herself to blame for always lone-wolfing it instead of working together with others. But there were no regrets there. It was all for the sake of minimizing casualties, after all. Amenti on the other hand, was fairly reclusive in nature. That wasn't to say he was apathetic, though. In fact, his choice of garb was specifically chosen to imitate an iconic symbol of death so as to make himself a bit less repelling to strangers, but not so approachable at the same time. Sometimes, he would shake it up with festive colors during a holiday event, though still acting standoffish.

As they drew closer to the entrance, Seryuah started to ponder what she wanted to do next. Combat practice was all fine and well, but it was overdone for her. Maybe... forging new weapons? She mentally whacked herself on the head. Nobody would fault her for such recreational activities, but she wanted to have more of a social life. Perhaps then, she could stop being a person in the background during friendly gatherings.

Oh, right! There was that cafe she had been meaning to try out in the Solar District! Now to find someone else to bring along. Who would work...

She looked over at the first person that came to mind, mostly because he was her most recent interaction. As if he could feel her eyes boring into his head, Amenti looked back.

"So..."

The two continued their interlocked gazes. One was waiting patiently for an answer with an uncanny focus strangely befitting his appearance. The other was struggling internally, wondering how it was even possible that something so trivial like asking a question could get stuck on the tip of her tongue. It was a whole lot easier when it was all business.

After a while of one-sided awkwardness that felt like forever, she finally got it out. "...Want to grab a bite to eat?"

Amenti didn't respond, so she assumed he wanted to know where exactly she was planning to go. "It's in the Solar District."

The ghostly apparition made a sound like wind nudging open an oaken door. Seryuah took that sigh as a sign that she probably wasn't going to get an affirmation. Not like she really expected him to agree to go; Amenti was partial when it came to dimmer environments. Which was why she raised her eyebrows in mild surprise at his hand gesture signalling 'Fine, fine'.

She turned back forwards, not even registering the feeling of a universe's laws descending upon her, so focused was she on pondering what manner of small talk would suit someone like Amenti. That, and she had gone through the whole process hundreds of times already, so it wasn't anything new. Immediately after they entered the landing lobby, they teleported straight into the city, close to the boundary between the Solar District and Primary District. Some might question the lack of security measures for arriving individuals, like wards to prevent such instantaneous transportation, but there were countermeasures in place without compromising ease of travel for Regis members. Sending out a sample of one's energies for the scanners within the lobby to pick up and verify was the only one that required any conscious effort to do, but that took a mere fraction of a second.

In the middle of a street appeared the blue-haired human and the brown-cloaked apparition. Many of the civilians who had spent an adequate amount of time living in Equinox were no strangers to random acts of teleportation, so no one spared anything more than a passing glance. As for the individuals who suddenly popped up, their reason for showing up here and not their intended destination was right in front of them. Above them, to be exact.

Hanging upside-down from his legs was a black-haired human with a purple and yellow yin yang mask. He was lollygagging about on one of the decorations just below the skyline.

Heya! said Jin. Never thought I'd see you two hanging out together. What're you up to?

Oftentimes, when they were both available, Seryuah would consider spending time with this oddball. Maybe she could pick up some of his easygoing behavior along the way, but it was mostly because there was rarely a dull moment with him around. Him and his unchanging oriental attire. Well, when you find a look that works...

Just grabbing a bite to eat at this cafe I heard about.

The Coffee Cafe or Winslow's Diner?

Some place called Crumpets'n'Cha.

Crumpets'n'Cha! Where was that, it's in... Sol?! Grim, my boy! Getting some sun, at last! Amenti sighed upon hearing his nickname.

Jin dive-bombed towards his two companions on the ground before teleporting them straight to the aforementioned locale. It was a quaint restaurant with an outdoor terrace, with patrons occupying about half of it at any given time. The place had an angle without anything to obstruct the sun with, so the umbrella-covered tables were a nice touch.

After being welcomed and seated by a serpentine waitress, Amenti's first action was to reach out and open up their table's umbrella, prompting a couple of chuckles from the other two. Ignoring the ghastly grumble that was clearly directed at him, Jin went straight to summoning the fourth person who would be joining them today.

"-...so I think the next step would b-..." The thoroughly confused Avisec quickly transitioned into thoroughly peeved when she turned around and saw the culprit of her abduction raise his hand in deliberately slow greeting.

"Hi."

"JIN, YOU... ugh, I know I said you could bring me whenever. So I guess that's on me, but at least give me a warning next time?"

"Nah."

"What do you mean, no?!"

"That's no fun."

"Haagh..."

The two silent onlookers enjoyed watching this scene unfold before them. Well, Seryuah assumed her fellow spectator did, at least. It was hard to tell under that dour guise of his.

Things calmed down once the waitress returned to take their orders. A moment of dispute later over a certain someone's desire to have one of everything, they settled on a standard fare of tea and crumpets.

Picking up her teacup, Seryuah had a sudden impulse to act humorously within context. "I bid thee good morrow, my fine sirs and madam."

Jin matched up with her imitated accent and equally exaggerated mannerisms. "Truth beeth toldeth, milady. 'Tis within the late hours of the even."

Seryuah enjoyed having her attempts at amusing people reciprocated, even if the only one who did was a wild card when it came to this stuff. Avy just rolled her eyes and Amenti kept a constant vigil.

"Say, Jin. Shouldn't you be spending some time with your wife and kids?"

"Why, my shiny silver cockatrice! I am wounded. Could you possibly be insinuating that I am a terrible father?"

"Well, maybe! I mean-"

"Ssshe wannnts... you to get themmm... off her back," said Amenti, his raspy, dragging speech revealing itself. The person he addressed responded with cackling and a thumbs up.

"Don't you laugh it off! Those kids of yours are becoming carbon copies of you, especially the shorter one!"

"Ah yes, the miracle of genetics. Genotypes, was it?"

"Phenotypes. And no, you dunce. That's not the whole story. Could you at least tell them to keep their distance away from me?"

"Can't do, sorry." Avy was glaring daggers at him. "What? Variety's the spice of life, my glossy little cockatoo. Letting them run into so many personalities and experiences broadens their horizons at a young age. That, and Xara and I are always keeping a third eye out for'em. Nice key lime pie they gave you, by the way. Wish I coulda had some myself."

Before the victim of the classic prank could unleash a torrent of frenzied talons upon her indirect aggressor's face, an annoyed expression replaced her current irate one. She pulled up a HoloPad from the dining table before browsing her inbox. It would appear as though her subdermal implant notified her of someone texting her a message, which was actually a rare occurrence, considering most people she already cared about would talk to her via telepathy.

In the meanwhile, Seryuah took the chance to try out some small talk herself. "How is she doing by the way, Jin?"

"Who, Xara? Same as always. Whenever she wants me, she drags me over herself. Think I still got some bruises from the last time..." He jokingly rubbed his back.

"Heh, kinky."

"Hey Avy! You doing alright over there?" She turned her head around to find the avian's eyes slightly widened from whatever the contents were of her text.

Jin slowly slid his way over to have a peek. "Heh-hey! I knew he'd come around eventually!"

Snapping out of her shock, Avy went straight to swiping at his face with her talons, no waitress this time to impede her advance. Harmless play, of course; the razor sharp ends slid innocuously off of their target. "YOU! Weren't you supposed to be the one handling that insufferable wretch?!"

"Insufferable wretch no more, at least. Besides, haven't we learned a lesson from all this? Archetypal behavior ain't stagnant behavior. People can change!"

Avy had already halted her assault in the middle of Jin talking. Roosting in her chair, she reflected a bit on the implications. Sure, the new guy was the spitting image of the 'cultivator' archetype, but who knew if they were actually dead set in their ways? She'd never find out if she didn't even give him a chance.

She typed out a reply to the sender momentarily afterwards that made Jin give a thumbs up in approval.

"Alright, haagh... I'll give the newbie a clean slate."

"That's the spirit!" said Jin, bumping her beak with a balled-up fist. "I knew you'd get something out of this experience!"

Some gears began turning in her head as Avy connected those words together. "Wait... were you the reason why Mekkor assigned me to teaching Rowan?"

Silence.

Then, the screeching of metal on concrete as Jin steadily scooched away. He broke out into a full run as soon as Avy charged at him in a flurry of gleaming metal. It ended up creating a scene featuring an angry bird screaming obscenities barreling down the road alongside a human hooting with playful laughter. Seryuah could hardly hold back her own.

After that bout of excitement died down, it was just the two of them left. Aside from the waitress that came to collect the dishes from the vacant spots, there was only a one-sided uncomfortable silence. She nibbled on a crumpet to take her mind off the abrupt awkwardness. Oh, how she longed to retreat back to the solace and familiarity of training! Maybe she could spar with Rowan? She almost forgot he was here until the topic was brought up earlier, having not seen each other since he first came along.

She got ready to verbalize her intent to Amenti, but found his red light of an eye focused on something. Following its gaze behind her, she saw Marc strolling about. The man was acting like his usual jaunty self, casually flirting with any humanoid females he happened to pass by. He had a toothy grin and gelled up hair that would give one the impression that this was someone who was feeling at the top of the world. It certainly left an impact on the locals, at least.

When he got closer to their table, however, instead of giving friendly or awkward waves, they gave him a knowing nod. And for a split second there, the facade of elation was broken. But only for a second. He quickly recovered and returned their signals of encouragement with a nod of his own before returning on his merry way.

Seryuah's discomfort was blown away, only to let her be consumed in thought. They both knew the place where Marc had visited just now:

The Under. Named simply in order to lighten the atmosphere surrounding the subject, but in actuality accomplishing very little when it came to alleviating the gravity of it. Seryuah still remembered her very first trip there. Everyone did. It was an event that changed someone, marking a turning point in their lives as they learned just how... fair the multiverse had to be.

She looked down at her dim reflection in the teacup, lost in thought. "Maybe that's the reason for my parents' fate..." Her two-handed grip tightened to the point where it shattered the china. Hot, dark liquid and shattered porcelain spilled all over her hands, but they barely registered to her. A hand covered her own, shaking her out of her trance. It was cold and clammy to the touch, but it was the gesture itself that warmed her.

Right. Moping around like this was rather unsightly. She couldn't let herself be seen like this by her little brother.

She glanced over at what Amenti was working on. Apparently, it was a compilation of data he'd gathered from his journey across thousands of universes. The use of yellowed parchment was an interesting decision, but from what she could see, it was impressively thorough. Expeditions like this could take millennia to accomplish, but thanks to the existence of temporal recalling, only a day could pass in Regis before such a journey finished. Seryuah herself had been on one of these trips herself, but lost interest midway through. However, based on her ghostly companion's findings, there was... so much more to see!

Seryuah stood up. "Thanks Amenti. You helped me a lot just now, and I really appreciate it."

He gave a wheeze of acknowledgement. Parting in opposite directions after paying for their meals, Seryuah started contacting her old team to get them together. Sparring could wait. It was about time she got up and started really seeing what the multiverse had in store for her!