“Are you survivors from the ship crash?” A stranger asks as she appears beside us. She’s a little taller for the human-like races, heavily tanned, and for some reason keeps her eyes closed as she talks to us. Even so, she hasn’t faltered a step, suggesting that she can somehow see clearly.

“Four survivors and a welfare officer.” I clarify, waving to Adler who flinches at the attention. Her head is still bowed and her ears are lowered sadly.

“I’m Ysalda from the journalism club. Could I have an interview with you?” She asks, only taking a moment to take in the dispirited welfare officer.

“Perhaps…” I think over it for a little while filled with hesitation, “Would you mind telling me more about the journalism club first?”

I’m used to modern journalism where it’s more about generating clicks and controlling ‘misinformation’ than actually investigating the truth of important incidents and topics. If this journalism club is under the thumb of the welfare officers, then I’m sure they could be dangerous.

“Alright, that’s no problem.” She seems to smile, at least Chip tells me it’s meant as a smile, to me it looks like she’s just bearing her teeth. “As a club, we poke around and look for any interesting stories. Like if someone has done something incredible in their studies or work, we report on the sports teams and their victories and losses. We also do some investigatory pieces on this and that.”

She continues to smile, a little more intensely towards Adler, before turning back to me. Perhaps her club has had run ins with the welfare officers in the past, if so, I’d like to learn a little more about it, outside of supervision, of course.

“Well, it seems to me like an interesting little group.” I say, “It might be interesting to have an interview. Just so long as you’re not going to twist my words or anything…” The enemy of my enemy isn’t necessarily my friend. Even if they’ve had issues with the welfare officers in the past, it doesn’t mean they won’t throw me to the wolves.

“Oh? Of course not.” The woman seems genuinely offended. “Journalists should always earn the trust of the public. Trust is our life, and our blood.”

I see Adler shuffling a little to the side, but she doesn’t say anything or intervene.

“I suppose it can’t hurt too much to talk with you.” I conclude.

“Kyra, should we really be telling this story?” Eshya asks a little sharply.

“The journalism club may be trustworthy but… it’s best we leave those events behind us.” Nel quietly complains as she glances over at our spy.

“Well, we can talk about it later, then,” I say.

“When you’re ready or if you find another good story come talk to us. Oh, and read the notices and letters that we put up on the boards around the academy.”

“Are you taking new members?” I ask, before she can leave.

“Always.” She smiles, “We won’t have a meeting for another week and a bit, but… how about this. If you want, you can write a story and show it off to everyone when they come back. Come in hot and impress them right off the bat!”

She pumps her fist in excitement.

“Do you want any advice on what to write about?”

“I’ve heard about ghosts that steal students away in the night.” I suggest, thinking of Nel’s story, “I could write up something either fun, or creepy about it. I’ll do a little footwork, look around and see what I can make of it, and write something up. If that works for your club?”

It’ll also give me a wonderful excuse to be poking around where I’m not supposed to be. Hopefully without earning me too many bad girl points with the welfare officers.

“That sounds great, I can’t wait to read what you put together. Come join us next Monday after school starts,” she says. I have a small fit trying to figure out how the concept of ‘Monday’ works in this world, the translation inducing more problems than it solves.

“So, what are we doing next?” I ask holding down a yawn. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and honestly haven’t rested well since that first day I parted from Earth.

“We should get our room put into order.” Nel suggests, “Saves us from the rush later and we can set ourselves up.”

“Sounds good to me.” I say, “Is everyone finished with their meals?”

When finished, we quickly leave the table behind and head over to the red scaled teacher who’s been showing us around the place.

“Excuse me, where can we find the dorms here?” I ask upon approaching him.

“The dorms? Oh, they’re up here as well.” He says, “Are you wanting to get to bed already? Well, that’s fine too, I guess.”

He seems a little disappointed that we won’t be listening to anymore of his speeches as he waves over another teacher that’s nearby. After a few quick words the second teacher approaches us.

“Is there any special accommodations that need to be made?” She asks, looking between us and focusing a little long on Adler.

She’s another plant-like life form, though one that imitates the human, or I suppose elvish, form. She has bright golden eyes that seem to act and work as normal, and even has orangish flesh that’s similar to our own. It stands in stark comparison to the green leaves that cloth her, and the vines that wrap around her.

“We’ll want a room together.” I declare, “Four beds. Does anyone need anything else?”

“I’m fine with elvish bedding,” Vii declares, the only one of us with significantly inhuman features.

“A room beside theirs for me thanks,” Adler says. The teacher doesn’t blink an eye, nodding confidently to her request as she leads us out of the restaurant.

We walk down wide streets, busy with students of all sorts and sizes, and between large buildings that I don’t yet know the purpose of. The sun on this world is still high in the sky but I’m not at all feeling the energy of mid-day.

Is it still called jetlag when there are no jet’s involved?

“This structure here has many dorm rooms, there is a pair of rooms that fit your requirements.” The teacher says, walking on legs thickly wrapped with vines.

The building that she points towards is a large tower in the more middle sections of this floating city block. I’m not expecting the best views, but it’s not like I’m paying millions of dollars, so I’m not one to complain.

Inside is simple but stylish, the stone floor has been replaced with soft red carpets that feel soft, like springy grass beneath every step. There are wooden tables and chairs set out and a small corner offering drinks and light snacks.

It truly feels luxurious, and the animal in me wants to grab a handful of cakes and curl up on the soft carpet while devouring them. The person in me refrains.

“I’m responsible for this dorm and the students that live here. If you have any problems, not simply with the dorms but with school life in general, I will be available to assist.” She says as she leads us to another elevator.

This one is a smaller one and lifts up through the levels of the building without much trouble. I have to wonder how much mana is being wasted on things like this. I won’t complain, but I wouldn’t mind sneaking in and sucking up some of that juice for myself.

“That’s nice, you stay here as well then?” I ask.

“My rooms are on the bottom floor, but you can access me any time through a panel in your room. I’d ask that you not use it for trivial matters, but don’t hesitate to contact me for any important matters.”

“Okay.” We all respond in the affirmative as the elevator stops and she leads us out into the hallway.

“Your cleaning is to be your own responsibility as we currently don’t have any maids or workers of the sort working here. There are cleansing enchantments freely available for everyone to use at any time, so it isn’t much of a bother.

“The baths are located on the top floor. They’re public access, and open at all times. Though this is a female only dorm, and I would ask you do not invite any males into these quarters.”

“Oh, finally. Rules, I can work with that.” I say, “Any other rules that we should be aware of?”

“Just don’t cause trouble for your dormmates.” She says, “Your rooms are here. The single room for you.” She waves Adler to her bedroom, “And this room has four beds as you’ve asked for.”

“That’s convenient.” I say peeking inside.

The room is rather spartan, but what is here is rather luxurious. Soft carpets, four simple looking beds, and a large window overlooking the academy streets outside. There are small chests at the foot of each bed, but no dressers or wardrobes.

“You are earlier than most, so there were many rooms still available.” She says, “Is there anything else that you need?”

“I don’t think so.”

“I’m fine.” Adler says.

“Then contact me if you have any issues.” She says before she leaves.

“Is anyone else incredibly keen to check out the baths?” I ask, feeling at my clean skin that still feels filthy.

“If you are,” Nel says quickly.

Neither Eshya nor Vii raise any complaints.

“I… I’ll go too.” Adler says, still looking as depressed as before.

Chatting lightly about this and that, we head over to the elevator and ride it up until we reach the top floor. As the elevator stops, we get a face full of warm steamy air.

The floor is again stone, but it’s been cut and textured to prevent slipping. The entire top floor is an open space, there are a few shelves to set our clothes and a series of crystal veined stones alongside.

Apart from that, the baths fill the room, they’re from knee deep to a what looks closer to a pool. This entire large room is filled with baths, and there are already a couple of older students already relaxing here.

The windows expand from the walls to the ceiling, though there’s a slight shimmer in the glass that I hope means that it’s magically blocking the sight of us.

“That glass, no one’s going to be perving on us?” I ask.

“No, no.” Adler shakes her head adamantly, “From the outside it looks very dark, the magic should also distort most magical means of perception.”

“Good, good.” I say, “And how do we clean up?”

“These stones.” Nel says, picking one up. As she focuses on it, a shimmer passes over her skin from her head down. I can see hints of the dirt and sweat gathering and running down her body and clothes under the wave of shimmering mana.

“This is going to be awful, isn’t it?” I ask taking another of the stones. A pulse of mana runs through it and down my skin. The friction of the mana running down my skin prickles only slightly. The dirt, filth, and sweat becomes semiliquid and rolls down my skin in a clinging and crawling manner.

The filthy mass runs down to my feet, through my slightly tattered shoes, and drips down a nearby drain.

“God, I hate that.” I groan, taking off my clothes and shoving them into the shelves nearby. These are my only things at the moment, the simple clothes given to me in prison to replace my old, tattered clothes from earth and my joggers that have survived rather nicely.

The others are quickly following my lead, and I have to avert my gaze. I am not ashamed of the fact that I have dirty thoughts at seeing them nude for the first time, but it would be rude to be leery about it.

I get into the water and hear the others entering after me. It’s as pleasantly warm as I anticipated, and all my distracting thoughts are quick to fade. The warmth soothes the aches and pains in my body, and everything else fades away.

I stare up through the shimmering glass, the canopy of the world tree high, high, above, blocking out most of the blue sky. In this truly serene moment, I lay back and drift across the pool sized bath.

“This is nice.” Vii says, her face flush from the heat as she steps tenderly into the waters. “A nice view.”

Eshya moans in agreement, sinking into the waters.

Nel crawls over to me and sits in the waters where I float, blowing bubbles in the water as she bobs back and forth happily.

For a little while I forget everything. The horrors of the world. Our powerlessness in it. Adler watching us while sitting on the side of the pool. She also has quite the nice figure, and a cat’s tail apparently. I hadn’t noticed.

I should probably pay more attention to these things.

As much as the warm waters draw the aches and pains, the quiet brings about the more serious concerns and worries that I’ve been burying. I feel stagnant. I haven’t fought, or trained, or done anything in the last day.

It’s something that would sound insane to the me of a week ago. Then again, most of all of this would sound insane.

Tomorrow, I’ll find somewhere to train with the others. Using the journalism project as an excuse I can dig about in the dungeons? Ruins? Wherever these ghosts are.

“What can we expect from the combat courses?” I ask, splashing water about a little.

“Control of our beastly natures.” Eshya says a little snidely.

“You should learn how to fight non-lethally.” Adler replies, “How to subdue enemies without killing, and yes, how to subdue your more dangerous and beastly emotions.”

“Is that so?” I ask, floating back over towards Adler, “What made you want to be a welfare assistant? Or didn’t you get to choose?”

“Some others haven’t but I did choose this class, this job. I was fortunate with my talents.” She says happily, “I wanted to help people better fight off the beasts inside them. I want to help people be better people.”

There is no doubt in her eyes, even with what I’ve said to her so far, she’s not doubting herself and her conclusions. I honestly shouldn’t have expected any different.

Eshya quietly shudders at the sight of Adler’s devotion. I have little doubt that she’s had trouble with their sort before.

“Help people be better people…” I force a smile, “That sounds nice, I suppose.”

“You aren’t convinced? I understand your misgivings, especially with what you’ve said so far, but I’m sure with time you’ll come to understand.” She smiles knowingly. It would look a lot nicer from someone not brainwashed.

“Is it okay if I ask you something then?” I ask.

“Kyra,” Eshya speaks up strangely relaxed, as if all uncertainty is now gone, “I’m ready to fight and die, rather than get caged by the welfare officers. I hope you know that.”

“I know, but we’re better off not having to.” I turn to Adler. “When I was brought here, the ship I was on was attacked. Thinking on it now, I’m sure there were welfare officers like you there with us, but when we were threatened, they hid behind us with their heads low.”

Her eyes turn downward again, but she’s not changed her mind yet. Nothing so simple can undo the damage done to her. She looks almost ready to say something, but I cut her short before she can.

“I’m from a mana desert. I’m still figuring everything out here, but getting on that ship was torture. Every time we travelled to another world, I felt like was torn apart and set alight. The others like me were screaming in suffering, through it all.

“You saw a small fraction of that already, so you know what I’m talking about.” She nods while wiping away a few tears.

“It was something that someone here should have anticipated. Someone should have prevented it, if welfare truly is what you’re after. If helping people is what your organisation does, then it isn’t doing its job.”

“That’s not our job.” She declares, sitting a little straighter, “We’re supposed to protect you from the beasts inside yourselves. We don’t fight, and we aren’t experts in magic and mana. We do what we can.”

“Like punishing us for asking questions?” I ask.

“It’s not like that…”

“It isn’t?” I pretend shock, “So it doesn’t affect our records then?”

She grits her teeth, her eyes teary.

I sigh.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my own peoples awful history, it’s that you should get to know a person before professing that you know how to help them. Sometimes your help will only end up hurting everyone involved.”

She continues to sit there quietly.

It honestly feels a bit strange to be lecturing someone older than me, especially with so much of the bravado that I’m trying to force into my words. That said, it’s better than letting her go on as she was. It’s better than having her watching over our shoulders to punish us for every supposed mistake.

“I’m sure you’re going to put some sort of mark against my records for even telling you all this.” I continue, as I float away, staring into the tree in the distance, “I won’t ask you to spare me, but I do hope that you can help yourself be a better person.”

“I…” She whispers.

If she weren’t truly kind-hearted my words wouldn’t have affected her at all. She’d have shouted me down and rejected everything I say, the internet has given me some good experience with radicals.

She falls into silent contemplation, and I know that whatever conclusions she comes to will determine our fate. There’s nothing more that I can say to her. Instead, I’ll have to be ready to run should she decide to turn against us.

Who knows how far I can push these welfare officers before they send someone to subdue us, and do whatever they do? I’d really like to know about that actually…

“Eshya, what is it that they have planned for deviants?” I ask.

“I haven’t said yet? They’ll subdue us. Something like the support device, but someone else has control of it.”

I think of how it feels when a Skill takes over, my body moving on a pattern saved on Chip. That same thing happening on someone else’s command?

“Yeah… Stick close to me if we are sure to get captured.”

“Why?” Eshya asks.

“How much of a blast do you think I can make with all my mana density packed into it?”

Adler startles and stares at me, her eyes open wide.

“They don’t do anything awful to you!” She falls over herself to say, “They’ll just keep you from doing anything dangerous.”

“Like thinking? Like asking questions? I think the blast should be enough that they won’t put us back together again. So Adler, I suggest you keep some distance if it comes to that.”

She retreats, giving us thoughtful looks from time to time.

We rest for a while longer in the baths before gathering up and returning to our rooms. My lack of property is depressing. While I hadn’t thought much about it at the time, I’d lost my phone and wallet when the ship crashed, and even my clothes were tattered when I left them behind at the prison.

I sit on the soft bed, thankful that our overseer is no longer with us.

“So, we’re picking a fight with the welfare officers?” Eshya asks as Vii is busy writing in her little diary and Nel diligently walks about shifting the sheets and bedding.

“No,” I reply with a shrug, trying to hide my trembling hands, “Either Adler hesitates to report us. Or we die.”

“You were trying to make her doubt her beliefs.” Vii says, “You wanted her to think, to change her mind. Flipping a welfare officer to our side? If anyone can do it, you can.”

I don’t know where she gets that certainty.

“Yes. She seemed so well intentioned. More than that though, I just hate seeing people like that caught up in this sort of madness.”

“Madness?” Eshya asks.

“You’ve lived your life around them, surely you know better than me.”

She nods quietly, as I continue

“I do have to agree with your concerns, we shouldn’t be picking fights with them. This was just… well an exception. I think… another part of it is that I want a fight.” I say as I lie in the soft bed. “I know we have a fight coming. I know that this isn’t over yet. I guess, I shouldn’t be, but I feel frustrated and want to speak out against them, I want to fight them.”

“We can’t pick a fight with the welfare officers like that.” Eshya declares, “If you want a fight, we can find somewhere quiet and beat the shit out of each other. If you want to stop being you, then you can start a fight with the welfare officers.

“Kyra, you need to calm down and think about your actions properly.” She sits down beside me, “I get it. Of all people, I fucking get it, but we can’t fuck this up. We won’t get another chance if they decide we’re too beastly. Not everyone is as lenient as Lefue was.”

“Lefue?”

“You kept calling her Red.” She says with a raised eyebrow.

“Shit, I keep forgetting her name.”

“Kyra, we’ve been lucky so far, but…”

“I know…” I sigh, “I’m still tense. All the shit that’s gone down. It’s difficult to just shut up and do nothing.”

“You’re the one who told me to be patient.” She says, pushing me down onto the bed.

“Now then…” She smiles deeply, glancing over at Nel and Vii. For all her confidence a second ago, there’s a sudden nervousness about her as she licks her lips.

“What are you doing?” I ask, feeling my own heart throbbing as she leans low over me, hovering her face right above my own.

“There is one beastly thing that we can do that we won’t get in trouble for. You see, while the Unified States are strict with violence there are other outlets for passion so long as it’s kept private. You’re not the only one needing to release some frustration.”

“Eshya?” I ask as her eyes search my own, she turns away with a keen smile.

“Nel? Are you interested in joining?” She looks over at my chitinous friend, “I wouldn’t want to leave you out.”

“I…” Nel flushes bright as a tomato.

“Think quickly, I’m not waiting for long. Vii?”

“Me?” The black feathered girl squeaks.

“Your gaze was also rather heated back in the baths as I remember.”

I don’t remember any of this!

“I was just…” Her face is blushing too bright for Eshya to have been mistaken.

“Then let me get started. Join in if you feel like it, or you can just watch. If it’s you two then I don’t mind, do you Kyra?”

“When was your character like this?!” I ask.

“It’s nice to finally have some privacy…” She says as she presses her lips onto mine. Her teeth bump painfully against my lip, but she doesn’t pull back, and I… I don’t want her to.

It’s not love, but it’s not not love.

I’m still figuring that part out, but… these girls are precious to me, and as Nel and Vii nervously approach I feel my sense of reality fading away and I lose myself in a beautiful dream.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stats & Skills

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 310 units

~Mana distribution:

Skin: 21%

Muscle: 7%

Mind: 3%

Cardiovascular: 7%

Misc.: 1%

Efficiency: 39%

~Skills:

-Mana skin

-Mana shield.

-Flame burst

-Fireball

-Infused Delayed Casting