“You have everything?” Nel asks, fussing over the dress I’m choosing to wear on our off-world excursion. “You have enough mana?”

“I’m fine.” I say pulling her into a hug. “I’m more worried about overworking you. There’s going to be a lot of people asking for land in that city of ours, and I’m sure that more than a few are going to try and bribe you or find some other way to be a bother.”

“That’s already started.” Nel says, chuckling. “I made it clear that their chances are reduced the more that they bother me, and they’ve started quieting down and acting more respectful since.”

“Good.” I say, turning to look at the rest of our group.

Adler’s still grumping, but she’s not letting it affect the rest of us because she’s too soft and kind.

Vii is pretending to be fine, but she’s still brooding. I think she still considers everything her fault because of that time magic that she’s working with. I guess if I had something so powerful, but wasn’t able to use it to save those I love, I’d be feeling much the same.

Eshya is… well she’s actually waking up on time. Even now she’s harassing Adler, trying to get her talking about her troubles, and bobbing about on the bed as the words fly out of her. Occasionally her eyes will glaze over as she remembers that she’s actually dead tired, but then she starts back up again.

“Take care of them, please.” Nel asks, holding my arm tight. I see the faint scars along my flesh, feel where I’m splitting apart, but the sensation fades and I nod.

“I’ll take care of them.” I say. “I don’t… I’ll take care of them, and make sure that they don’t do anything stupid like leaving us. I’ll fix whatever’s bothering them, and woo them all over again if I have to.”

“Good.” Nel nods, leaning up to kiss me. The pressure of her expectations condensed into the act, settling my feet firmly on the ground. “I’ll protect our home while you protect our family. Eshya is going to run out of energy soon, and Vii… try to pull her out of her brooding, even if only a little bit.”

“And Adler just needs time.” I say nodding. “I love you.”

“You’d better love me. The eternity that you promised to me will be much more difficult for you otherwise.” She whispers, gripping me tightly, her eyes shining with an overwhelming intensity. “I’m not letting our family disappear, no matter what.”

“Neither will I.” I whisper back, the words slowly settling her down. Her obsession for family is not something new to me, but I’m not unfamiliar with such intense emotions. I was ready to let this entire world slip away into nothingness when I thought Eshya and Vii dead.

I’m not certain that’s really ‘romantic’ per say, it seems that Arduelle at least considers it something closer to ‘unstable’.

The sun is yet to start shining on this part of the world, and today we’ve actually prepared enough to get to the port ahead of time. Our weeklong excursion with the combat students is going to be something different apparently, while I don’t know what that’s meant to mean, it can’t be as challenging as the war we just finished with.

Nel has gone down into the dungeon ahead of us, guarded by Luke and Korgan. The liquid shadow has been getting along surprisingly well with the dwarf, though the pair has taken me a little by surprise. Apparently they’re working together to try and make their own alcohol, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

A few students are finally showing up at the port alongside us. They’re tired, and twitchy, looking over their shoulders as they group up to whisper among themselves.

Alo and Vice aren’t the only students that have been stolen recently. For some reason the welfare officers have been working on a lower and lower standard, hunting students that they’d ordinarily leave alone.

“You’re my concern.” Adler whispers, explaining the situation as the other students keep a distance from us. “No other welfare officers will cause trouble with you. Not until they realise that I’m a traitor, at least.”

The students that had built up a sort of comradery over the weeks since the beginning of our stay here have gathered together and now whisper conspiratorially together, glancing at other groups and passing strangers with suspicion. Those from second grade civilisations are taking this rather better than the others, but more in the way of tired resignation.

Bowed heads and weary expressions are the most common factor shared between these aliens.

Some step aside to practice their magic, or a new Skill, but few touch on anything that could be mistaken for fighting or battle. They don’t want to be seen as beastly, but they can’t be lazy in their studies. An invisible line that we’re expected to walk for the sake of aligning to rules that we barely understand.

Why do we have to fight, if we can’t be violent?

How are we supposed to show dedication to our work and study, without being dedicated to the violent acts that are inherent to our future service?

We’re expected to live as contradictions and we’ll punished for the things that we’re forced to do. Slave soldiers to a system that values our submission more than our lives.

“It seems a few are running late today.” Freid says, joining us. His fluffy fur a little messed, like he’s only just clawed his way out of bed.

“Alo and Vice were… They’re…” A familiar student says, trying to excuse their absence but not finding the guts to finish.

“I’m aware.” Freid says, looking between us all. “That’s no reason for us to skip class. You should all be taking class much more seriously if you don’t want to join them.”

Well, I’ll be having them join me instead. They’ve been taken to the same place we broke into before. Hopefully security hasn’t been improved since our last effort.

“We’ve also got the pleasure of more permanent welfare officer oversight.” He says, waving his hand to the side towards a creature imitating the form of a woman. A popular fad that I’ve seen from most of the varied people on this rock. They’re trying to imitate or bring themselves nearer to the ‘ideal’ form of the elves, perhaps to try and have their civilisation given a better grading?

She’s closer to that ideal, and yet also further from it, compared to most.

Where I am flesh and bone, she is clay and stone. Her stone limbs are thin yet not nearly skeletal, and the clay muscles that spread out over her body ripple under a layer of cosmetic skin that doesn’t fully cover the stonework, almost as if to show off the reflective stone.

She’s pretty in the way that a statue is pretty, her eyes, move with an unusual stiffness, showing me just how much us fleshy creatures move and twitch even without any intention. Her smile is equally as sharp and mechanical. She doesn’t show any teeth.

“Is she looking at us?” Eshya asks, her eyes pointing at the stonework woman.

“I think so.” I reply, and indeed her eyes and smile seem closely attached to us in particular.

It can’t be good news, because it never is.

“I’m Sedena and I’m going to be attached to your class until the end of semester. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” She bows low, but I don’t think anyone really cares for her formalities. They know what she is and that’s enough for their fearful respect.

It seems she’s taking a different approach to the transient nature of the welfare officers that have floated around our class so far. She observes us all closely, before nodding her head and letting Freid take back control.

More trouble.

The ship arrives a little sooner than expected and cuts Freid off in another of his speeches. We all board quickly and without trouble, I closely turn my gaze to the city under the ground.

Through a thousand eyes I can piece together an image of what’s going on down there, the soldiers clearing out the streets. Warren, Roach, and Giant gathering together a group of gremlins from the cellars and closed houses, discussing something that I can’t quite listen in on.

They won’t cause trouble, they know what I’ll do to them if they hurt anyone that I consider mine.

“Always makes me think of the time we met.” Eshya says, looking about the room inside the ship. It’s the same as every other that we’ve been on, even the people serving the food seem to be moving about with the same movements and dedication to service.

“I though I was going to die.” Eshya says. “The ship crashed down and there so much chaos. My leg was crushed under the wreckage, and then you came to save me. Red… Red wanted to leave me for dead, but you stopped her.”

“Well, you were a pretty girl in need.” I say, “And you were swearing like a soldier, which I think helped you get on Red’s good side.”

I nervously tap at the table as the ship lifts up, stirring my anxieties. The scars reform on my arms, and the smell of meat filling the air from the nearby kitchen stirs memories that I’d rather leave alone.

As I try to stir my mind with thoughts of Loekan, or some other villain, I draw a blank. I have a city to build, and a merchant that’s sure to be annoying, but it’s not enough to pull my mind away from this death-trap which is liable to fall from the sky and become my grave, and the marker over it.

“Why are you bringing it up?” Vii asks, curled up on her chair, resting her chin on her knees. I try to focus on the conversation, as my fingers scratch slowly at the itching scars along my arms.

“This just brought me back. Reminding me of where we all met. It really wasn’t that romantic, was it? If it was fate then she’s a bitch not worth considering.

“We’ve barely changed at all since then.” I say, staring between her and Vii. We’ve been through so much together, licking our wounds, and trying to escape the memories that chase us. Sometimes, they feel more alien than familiar.

A spike of terror runs through my heart as I feel it now, but I force it back down. They are my lovers, my family. We have kids on the way. They are not strangers, even if my traitorous mind sometimes sees them that way.

“We have changed a little.” Eshya says, smiling out at the window. “We’ll change more as well the longer we stay together. The people we spend our days with make up a part of us, it changes us whether we fight the change or encourage it.”

The ship shifts worlds, and new vista expands out into an unfamiliar world as Eshya stares out the window.

“Where did you hear that?” I ask.

Tall trees reach vertically up into the sky, tall but not as tall as the world trees that expand up into space. Their leaves are spread out surprisingly thin, and I can see the flooded world of water weaving through it all.

“I heard it just now as I gave voice to my thoughts. I don’t always say everything that’s on my mind, you know.” She replies, as for the first time in a long while I see her not as Eshya, but the beautiful and unreachable elf that she looks like. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about recently, and I’m in the mood to let it all out.”

“Well, I think it sounds rather wise.” I say. “Not that that means much from me.”

Vii pulls out her little book again, writing down a few notes, though her hands are slower moving and her gaze a little less passionate than usual.

The world below reminds me a little of the cavern that I now call home, which I also watch, through some strange aspect of the Skill that I’ve yet to fully comprehend. The differences are much clearer when side by side.

The waters here don’t shine but are instead so impossibly clear that it’s difficult to distinguish the difference between the surface from the depths. Branches from the trees spread out through the liquid, waving slowly with the waters flow, hiding the movements of some small creatures I can’t quite make out from here.

A few colourful birds flit about the ship as we lower down through the thin canopy. They peck at the hard fruits growing from the trunks of the trees.

Otters and beavers swim about in the clear water, there’s quite a few different creatures that look like they come from the same family, some with the large, flat tails of a beaver, others thin and snakish, but all have brown fur and the same faces and snouts.

The ship lowers through a small clearing into port, touching down gently and sitting incredibly stable in the waters.

Freid leads us off the lowering gangplank and down to the floating dock. As always there’s a waiting group of people waiting for our arrival.

I’ll call them Otters for now. The tallest is only up to my bellybutton in height, and the smallest is half that. The taller species is thin as a whip with a pointed face and long wiry whiskers spreading out from its long snout. The shorter has a big, flat tail, that drags on the ground behind it, as it stands hunched over with a small cane in hand.

“Greetings students of the Landra academy. I hope that you are well.” The wiry otter says, brushing her whiskers eagerly as she greets us. “I hope you’re prepared for a good time. We have the cleanest water the whole universe around, and we’re renown for our water sports.”

“We’re here for training.” Freid says, in an admonishing tone.

“I thought sports were encouraged, like with the journalism group?” I ask Eshya as our teacher talks with a few of the locals.

“It’s… awkward.” Eshya says. “It’s allowed, and sometimes encouraged, but you can’t dedicate too much time or attention to it. Like everything here, it’s something like a trap, or test. Something like how we’re allowed to take anything we like from the stores, you have to self-mediate, or be dragged off in a collar.”

“So, the same old bullshit then.” I say as we’re led towards the town.

The otters themselves live in small homes worked into the trees of the forest, though it doesn’t seem to do any damage to the plant itself. Some magic is likely involved in the process of building them.

The homes are mostly under the water, but the entrances shimmer slightly with indication of a waters rippling surface. Some kind of barrier to keep the air in and the water out.

Many locals poke their head out to look at us as we pass through. I can’t even tell how large this town is, with all of the homes disguised within the trees.

Freid leads us to the shelters where we’re expected to stay, which are surprisingly nice this time around. They’re carved out of the trees, just like the Otter’s homes, but large enough for us to fit comfortably.

“Ah, listen up, listen up!” The thin otter shouts, calling for our attention. “It’s currently low tide but in a few hours the tide will turn again and these homes will be under the water, so if you aren’t good at swimming make sure to ask for help. We’re a friendly bunch, I promise!”

“Put your things away.” Freid says, waving us to the homes soon to be underwater. “This trip is especially designed to train you to move in unusual environments. While most deep-sea battles and hunts will be taken by groups more talented in underwater movement, there will be times when you will need to know how to swim.

“Today, you will learn.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Half the students spend the warm hours of the day constantly on the verge of drowning, kept alive through some torturous plot. Thankfully, I’m with the other half, kicking off of trees and getting used to the new environment.

I may have figured out the basic trick to swimming, but I have a long way to go before perfecting it, and I’m still trying to figure out what to do about getting combat ready. Eshya and Vii are practicing the same, while Adler watches us closely rather than testing her own abilities.

Moving my mana in the strange buoyancy cycling method keeps me from being able to invest it into any other parts of my body. I can still use magic if I try, but nothing large. Worse still, fire isn’t much good under the surface of the water and annihilation is currently a secret from the welfare officers.

Even with all day to practice, and listen to advice, I can’t find a solution.

When the large glowing sun sinks down over the horizon, we swim down to our temporary home. Vii tumbles into our bed and pulls the covers up to her chin as she crawls up into a ball. Eshya, meanwhile, paces back and forth with energy unspent, and Adler sits in quiet thought.

Thrumming through the waters outside is a pounding beat of drums, and the stifled sound of song. Instruments that I’ve never known played to spread through the water.

“What do you think they’re doing out there? Is it a party? Why are they partying?” Eshya asks, shaking her head and spinning around. She starts stretching, twisting around to balance on one leg as she tries to keep herself still.

“You want to go check it out?” I ask. I want to talk to a few of the locals, and learn about what life is like here.

“Yeah, you think we’ll get in trouble?” Eshya turns to Adler, our resident expert.

“It should be alright so long as I’m with you, and you don’t cause any trouble.” She says, shaking her head and stretching.

“It’ll be fine. Perfectly fine.” Eshya says leaning over and kissing her head.

“Vii?” I ask, the gloomy young bird.

She flutters up and stretches her wings, nodding slowly as she hops over to my side.

“Come on, let’s go check it out. You think they do dancing? Swimming dancing? Is that a thing? Maybe I should make it a thing.”

“It’s a thing.” Vii says, smiling as she looks out at the distant light in the water. “There’s all sorts of types, too.”

Her words unleash Eshya, who throws herself into the waters outside. She twists around before pulling a surprised Adler in after her.

“Let’s go check it out.” I say to Vii, pulling her out into the waters outside.

A large blue moon glows bright overhead shifting in strange swirling patterns, the light spreads through the water, small sparkling bugs float around us reflecting it in dazzling new patterns.

Together, we chase after the drumming.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 4271 units

~Mana distribution:

Category Current Max. Defence 20% 100% Offense 20% 100% Mana Sense 20% 100% Recovery 20% 100% Gluttony 10% 100% Misc. 10% 100% Efficiency 100% 100%

~Favourited Skills:

-Tag and Film

-Trapping

-Mana surge movement

-Annihilation defence

-Annihilation flame burst

-Annihilation net

-Eyes of an Empire