The reflective bugs swim around us, filling this underwater world with the light of the blue moon high above. They flee when I reach out a hand to catch them, hovering around and chasing one another while moving to the beat of the drum.

Many gather around the hard fruits growing from the trunks of the trees, forming living streetlights guiding us down as we approach the beating drums.

Eshya kicks out with a burst of speed, catching one of the little glow bugs, and turning back to show it to us. Its reflective shell covers most of its body, but a series of small fin-like legs swish about at the back of its body. She smiles brightly as it slips through her fingers and flitters towards Vii, who panics back away from it.

Releasing a bubbling laugh, I mess with Vii’s hair and pull her close until her waving wings push me back. Even in the blue light her blushing cheeks are bright and clear.

Bright yellow light shines out from below, escaping the doors and windows of the wide tree-home like an invitation. Otters moving in and out, both species mingling and crossing paths as they weave through the busy waters at the door.

A group of younger otters nearby hit a ball between themselves, the shorter ones slapping the ball with their large tails, while the longer sort swirl it around with their slithering movements.

They steal the ball from one another, and pass it between them without any real care for rules, so it seems more like a bunch of kids kicking a ball about rather than a proper game.

Running low on air, we don’t bother to stop and stare for long, kicking ourselves into the warm light of the large tree and breaking through the air barrier that acts as a door. It’s a strange sensation, suddenly falling from the water and losing all buoyancy.

Inside the building smells a little like wet dog, but the residents don’t seem to mind much so I keep the thought to myself.

There’s a loud cheer as we enter, the locals waving around shells filled with slimy seeming oysters as they turn to wave at us. They sit in pools of warm bubbling water while slurping down whatever food or drink fills the horned shells that they wave about.

“Welcome!” Shouts a familiar long otter. She’s the one we met just coming off the ship, but her stance and voice seem a little less serious as she crawls out of her bath and comes out to greet us.

“Hi, we followed the drumming down here. Thought you guys might be having a party. We’re not intruding, I hope?” I ask, knowing the answer from just how easily they waved us into the place.

“It’s no intrusion, come follow me and I’ll show you around.” She says, walking us over to a table at the side of the room. “Your teacher said we shouldn’t invite you, and he was all so strict about it, too. So we decided to let our kids practice their instruments instead, and it seems we caught your interest.”

The drumming isn’t nearly as intense from here, sounding like a low gentle rhythm, a heartbeat underlying the conversation without drowning it out. The other instruments are even quieter, whispering out alien tunes that I can barely make out if I listen close.

“This is where we come to clean up and relax after a long day, there’s music, hot baths, and some fine Blochit to share.”

“Blochit?” I ask, looking down at the table she waves towards. In a large deep dish floats slimy, orange-yellow chunks of something. It’s what I first mistook for oysters, but I’m not quite sure it’s an accurate guess anymore.

The horned shells lined up beside the deep bowl are for dishing them up apparently, and it seems to be a self-serve buffet sort of deal.

“I’m Bea, by the way, our introductions were all rather formal until now, so I’d like to get to know you girls in a more friendly setting.” She says, “Take some Blochit for yourselves, and come check out the baths the heat shouldn’t be any trouble for any of you.”

I help Vii with her own horn and ‘Blochit’ so that she doesn’t get her wings covered in the slime filling the bowl, before getting my own.

Eshya doesn’t wait a moment, throwing hers down before the moment it’s in the cup and taking another right after.

“How is it?” I ask as she swirls her tongue around, licking her teeth clean.

“Slimy, but sweet.” She says. “And a bit stringy. Try not to chew it.”

“Ugh, yuck.” Adler shivers a moment after eating hers, poking out her tongue as she shakes her head wildly in undisguised disgust.

“That’s enough for me.” She says, putting down the horned shell.

It’s at the baths that I realize something a little awkward. All of the little otter people are covered in fur, they don’t wear clothes. It’s kind of like public nudity, and kind of not, but either way it presents us with a problem of our own.

Should we go in clothed, or should we undress?

For some reason baths like these seem unreasonably common in the wider universe. Not that I’m complaining.

I might as well get used to it.

Public bathing isn’t completely alien to me, and I guess I can rebuff any creepers if they decide to try anything on us. Pushing through the hesitation, I undress and dip into the bath. Vii is the most uncaring of us, stripping down and hopping into the water without care, immediately followed by Adler.

Eshya, strips down to her underwear while hiding herself behind me, pulling me down into the bath by her side. It’s not often I can see her acting so cutely, so it’s something of a blessing.

The warm baths bubble over like a nice spa, but I have to use my swimming skill to get the water to actually start feeling hot. My high mana just resists temperature changes the same as it does with my natural buoyancy, but the swimming Skill helps to alleviate the issue.

“How are you enjoying the academy? Is the Unified States treating you all well?” She asks, looking between us as she relaxes on the side of the tub.

“So long as we don’t act beastly, everything is fine.” I reply. “We have to be careful not to offend the welfare officers though. For some reason they’ve been pretty hard on my classmates, and a few of them have been taken in for… ah… treatment? Training? Taming?”

“Ha, you are an open one.” She says with a laugh. “Rare, but I guess you’re eager enough to be the first to come follow the music so I shouldn’t be surprised. That’s good.”

“Why’s it good?” Adler says, hedgingly continuing using our messages. “I’ll ask you to be careful with your words when not speaking through the support devices.”

“Isn’t that even more dangerous?” Bea asks twitching her whiskers. “It’s a new thing brought here by the Unified States, I’m not complaining, but I was suspicious that it might be for the purpose of welfare officer spying.”

“It’s not.” Adler says confidently, without explaining herself.

“We don’t believe so, no.” I say. “Is there something you wanted to bring up?”

“We can trust everyone here, and the drums are keeping anyone from listening in from outside.” Bea says, floating a little closer as she peers between us. “I wanted to hear your thoughts on the Unified States. What is it really like?”

“You don’t know?” I ask, a little shocked.

“They take a few of our people as students, some return for a season or two, but they eventually disappear for good. No one living here has lived under their rule outside of a few welfare officers wandering by.” She explains, “I want to hear your thoughts.”

“Well, that’s comforting to hear.” I say, relaxing into Eshya’s arms as she holds me from behind using me to hide herself. “First of all, as you seem to be aware, don’t express such doubts or ask questions like that.”

She nods, smiling in the strange way, her whiskers rippling upwards.

“Don’t express yourself violently, and if you have to kill something, then do so after you’ve subdued it and have full power over it.” I say. “If you want to succeed you need to focus on your talents from a very young age and don’t waste time or resources on anything else.

“This is part guessing on my part, but unfortunately the Unified States doesn’t have a rulebook for us to follow.”

“It’s your neighbours.” Adler says, staring down into the waters, her ears flat against her head. “Everyone is expected to contact the welfare officers about beastly behaviour. It makes you feel like their omniscient, like we’re always watching you. You get isolated, unable to trust your community.”

Bea looks around at her own community, chuckling. “Well, I think we’ll be fine in that regards for today.”

She quickly turns serious again as she looks down into the bubbling waters.

“What about the species conversion. Even among you, the number of elvish characteristics is absurd. Is it something the Unified States are doing to us?” Bea asks.

“That’s…” Vii speaks up hesitating but continuing anyway. “That’s already affecting your people. Or it should be.”

“What do you know of it?” Bea asks, sitting up. I’m sure that many more ears have turned our direction now.

“It’s an ancient virus and no one really knows where it came from specifically, but it was from early on, or maybe even slightly before the Unified States of Mana was formalised.

“The virus is nearly completely endemic to the whole universe and its only purpose is to spread elvish genealogy to other living beings.” She says. “I’m guessing that your people outcast anyone with elvish features?”

Bea widens her eyes, nodding slowly.

“That sounds absolutely ridiculous, but also… plausible. That means there’s not much for us to do about it. We can’t even confirm it or not.

“And no, we don’t outcast anyone, but you aren’t far from the truth. We don’t do anything to stop them.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Well, to explain in more detail, I’m sure you’re curious why we treat with the Unified States when we’re so cautious of them.” Bea says throwing down another of their strange oyster fruits. My own goes down easily, leaving a slight sweetness throughout my mouth.

“To give it to you simply. We don’t have any space mages, and we can’t figure out any way to enchant or capture the magic. My great-great-grandfather made a deal with the Unified States to try and steal some of their knowledge on it. Every student we send out tries to learn how to cross space, but none have come back to us with the knowledge.”

“Wait, why do you want space magic that much that you’d… well, risk throwing your lot in with the Unified States?” I ask, leaning forwards. There’s something more to this story.

“No world is eternal.” Bea says, swirling her horned drink around. “One day this world is going to kill us, is it silly for us to want our children to survive past that point?”

“What does that have to do with your outcasts?” Adler asks.

“Well, one of the ways that other worlds come to an end, as I’ve learned from those who returned, is the development of an Omega beast. Creatures of such incredible size and power that nothing can stand in their way. Some grow so powerful as to devour whole worlds.

“Such a creature lives in the depths of this world, slowly eating the heart of this planet as it grows on more powerful each day. We cannot hope to stop it, all we can do is try to get some of our children away before the end takes us.

“Some of our people swim to the depths to try and face the beast and save us all. It’s foolish, but then so are people.

“So to your question… the kids who are born different from everyone else? Well, kids are cruel. The elvish afflicted either become homebodies and stay away from the rest of us, or they decide to take the dive. We should do more for them, but it’s easier to say than do.

“In light of all this, when the Unified States offered a deal, we accepted. But they haven’t saved us from this world, and I don’t think that they’re going to.”

“That’s… quite the story.” I say. She doesn’t seem to be lying. “So, what did you really want from us?”

She chuckles, looking back up towards me.

“A third option.” She says, relaxing. “I know you’re just students, but one day, some of you might become powerful enough to do something. We want passage to another world, a way to escape this doomed place. If you can ever send our message out to someone who can help us, then that’s all I really want.”

“Well, I have been rather desperate for my own solution to teleportation.” I say. “I’ll tag you and come back to pick you up when I’ve got a ship of my own.”

“Even if the chances are unlikely, I’m glad that you’re making the offer.” She says, accepting my hand as I place one of the tags on her.

“Well, I hope your wrong about my odds, because I rather need something to get me out of the Academy sooner or later.” I say.

Bea tilts her head looking at the door and holding up a hushing hand to us. Seeing through her eyes, rather than turning around myself, I watch as Sedena floats in through the door, elegantly falling from the shining waters and stepping onto the ground.

Her shining eyes and bright smile turn straight to us, but she doesn’t head our way, instead slipping into a bath on the opposite side of the room from us and conversing with some of the nervous otters floating beside her.

“Well, just enjoy your time here.” Bea says, ending our last conversation. “You should watch our games if you get the chance, I’m sure you haven’t seen anything like it before.”

“What about dancing.” Eshya says from underneath me, poking her head around my shoulder. “Is there underwater dancing?”

Bea chuckles, nodding. “I’m not sure you’re quite the right shape to follow, but you can try. A little later into the night we’ll spread out into the trees and the adults can take up the instruments. Join us.”

Eshya shifts about happily, she has far too much energy today.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The dance flows with the water around us, and the music thrums through our flesh as we design our own steps to the beat. Eshya somehow looks like she belongs among the spinning, dancing otters, and even Vii flutters about using her wings, smiling happily as she makes it work.

On land her steps are limited by her talons, but here, her wings help her move easier than the rest of us.

We float to the nearest air bubbles, enchanted to hang from the sides of the trees, catching our breath before continuing.

The next day comes and we train, swim, and fight. Then afterwards we settle in to watch a match of their renown water sports. The ball spins and bounces, as the quick little creatures swim about to steal the ball or to dribble it along after them.

It’s surprisingly exciting, and after the half hour break the game changes as a second ball is introduced to the field. The winning team focuses on defending their goal, rather than fighting for the balls, letting the opposition come to them.

Strange little cheering chirps fill the water as the game reaches its last minute and the victor is decided. There’s happiness and disappointment aplenty as the teams pay respect to one another, and we get back to our training.

Meanwhile, Sedena watches us. She never approaches us, or interferes, only ever observing us from afar. Even Adler grows nervous at her behaviour by the end of our stay here.

“Does she suspect me of being uncollared?” Adler asks, trembling as she looks out the window, but the welfare officer isn’t there. Instead, everyone seems worked up about something, the otters swimming faster than usual.

My guts tell me that it’s nothing good.

“Let’s go, something is up.” I say, heading to the door and looking around outside.

They’re all gathering around a room in the lower section of our own tree. Floating down towards them, I see a red haze floating through the water. I scratch at the invisible scars on my arms, as I see the raw flesh float by. The thick flat tail is an uncomfortably familiar trait.

It’s been torn in two through tremendous force, and past it, inside the bloody haze floats the twisted remains of the poor little beaver.

I’ve never seen a body left in this condition before. I’ve seen people butchered and slaughtered. I’ve seen them half eaten by wild beasts, and I’ve seen them cooked in pots.

This is different.

Not a single part of the body is missing, even the blood leaking out is accounted for. His body is bruised, broken, and torn, but eaten. I can taste the mana in the blood floating by me.

Whatever killed him, and presumably tortured him, did it simply for the sake of it. For the pleasure of it.

“Well, isn’t that unfortunate.” Sedena says, her words floating through the water as easily as the air. “It seems that there’s a beast hiding among us.”

She smiles, her bright eyes locked onto the twisted corpse without any hint of disgust or anger, instead she almost seems to glow in satisfaction.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 4009 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