With a cup of instant espresso coffee in one hand and a haphazardly grabbed protein bar in the other, Oryza took a well needed rest at the guild's breakroom. Stretching his back, he felt the joints pop and he let out a short groan. It had been quite the long day for him, but it was just like that sometimes. All the time he had put aside to convince Edmond to come back had to be paid back one way or another. This was probably his first break all day.

He sat down and took a sip of the coffee. It was strikingly room temperature, which was unsurprising given that he had made it using a teaspoon of instant coffee and a half bottle of spring water found at the corner of the refreshment bar. Next, he ripped open the packaging on the protein bar like he would a bag of chips and then tore a big chunk of it with a single bite.

"Chocolate chip peanut butter huh," he breathed out. Better luck next time. There were better flavors out there, but there were also worse ones as well. Though, he did not care about it enough to complain. Chewing, he took another sip of the coffee before letting out a long sigh of relief.

"Director, coffee this early in the morning?"

"This early in the morning?" Oryza asked the newcomer with a raised eyebrow, "You mean this late at night?"

Taking a seat at the same table as Oryza was Quies, a tall Avis woman donning a very comfortable and puffy feathered coat. Despite it being this late into the night, Oryza was not alone in the breakroom. In the first place, the guild was an emergency service provider, meaning they had to be staffed 24/7 regardless of holidays. Normal guild operators in the command and logistics division could have regular shifts reminiscent of other jobs; field operators on emergency relief duty however had shifts which lasted up to a week at a time. For them, the guild was more or less a second home to them where they ate, slept, and bathed as they would their actual home.

"Is it really?" Quies asked with a slow tilt of her head. There were dark circles under her eyes and it really gave off the impression that she was quite the gloomy woman. "I only just woke up, so it certainly must be morning, wouldn't it?"

"You should learn the importance of looking at a clock each time you wake up."

"Yawn… I'm hungry now. Director, what's for breakfast?"

Oryza shook his head hopelessly as his advice went over her head. But despite Quies's cluelessness in her day to day personal life, she remained as one of the most valuable elite field operators at the Singapore guild's disposal.

"You're at the break room. If you want to eat a hot meal, go to the cafeteria."

"That's unfortunate. The cafeteria's on the other side of the guild. I don't want to walk all the way there, so can you go for me? I want fried chicken, thanks."

"If you're that hungry, eat a protein bar. I put plenty in the basket," Oryza pointed at the countertop on the far side of the room.

"No thank you, I'm in the mood for bird, so I'll save my stomach for that instead. I'll even eat a dove fresh out of the sky if there's any," Quies declined politely and once again showed Oryza just how differently some of the races of Arca Archa thinked. After that, she sat in silence, watching him intently as he finished off the rest of the protein bar and coffee. But he was already quite used to her antics, so he easily finished eating without feeling a sense of awkwardness.

"Since you're already here," Oryza started as he pushed something towards Quies, "what are your thoughts on these? I think there are a few promising talents."

Although he had come to the breakroom to take a rest from work, he still brought with him a few of the evaluation files of the recent recruits to review before going back. The newbies always deserved some extra attention as the right guidance at the start of their career really helped them come to shine on their own.

"Are they Scouts?" Quies, head of the scouts department, asked as she bent her neck to look at the papers.

"See for yourself." Oryza let the expert come to her own conclusions.

"Hm… This one. I want this one." Bringing her index finger out from underneath the feathered coat, she moved just one of the papers away from the others. It was the evaluation of a young Felid woman. "The rest are just no good."

Giving her judgment on the lot, Quies said something that others could take to be quite harsh. However, her opinion was weighted purely on whether or not the candidate would be good as a scout. As the head of an entire department, she simply did not have the capacity to think about where other people belonged.

"I see. I was going to introduce her to your department soon anyways, so look forward to that. I'll send you a copy of her files later as well."

…

"By the way," Oryza brought up.

Quies looked up with a slight glimmer to her eyes and asked, "Are you going to the cafeteria for me? I really want some fried chicken."

"Remember Edmond? He's coming back."

"Edmond?" It took her a moment, but then she asked languidly, "Verretheia's? His instincts are good."

That was the only comment she had on the matter. Though, Oryza knew that coming from her, it was quite a high compliment. She stood up with a slight rustle from her feathered coat and then she yawned.

"…This is too early for me. I'm going back to sleep. Director, wake me up if you have some chicken for me."

"Get it yourself."

"I'll be waiting… yawn…"

Oryza simply shook his head as he waved her off and she staggered her way out of the room slowly.

…

"Code red-nil. Red-nil—"

Without so much as a prior warning, a loud alert blasted through the speakers all over the inside of the building. Code red-nil— red for a rift event in a densely populated area or place with significant logistical importance, and nil to signify an unassessed outbreak event risk.

"Quies!" Oryza yelled right away, but before he could even begin, the head of scouts had already been two steps ahead of him. She was like an owl the way she practically flew down the empty hallway and turned a sharp corner without slowing down in the slightest.

Quies, the Untouchable. This was not a title that people called her lightly by. Out of all the field operators the guild had at its disposal, Quies was by far the fastest and most mobile. Although she was quite languid while on standby, her artes allowed her to glide and maneuver in the air as though she were a bird. It was by this capacity that she was second to none when it came to arriving first when a rift event was detected. As a scout, this was the most important thing she needed to do in order to assess the dangers of a rift event. This time would be no different. Within minutes of the alerts sounding, she would already be well on her way soaring through the air outside.

"Secondary code yellow-nil detected. Secondary yellow-nil detected. All operators muster to your stations."

"A second one!" Not even a minute had gone by after the first alert, now a second rift event had already appeared!

"Tertiary code orange-nil detected. Tertiary orange-nil detected. All operators muster to your stations immediately. I repeat, tertiary orange-nil detected. All operators muster to your stations immediately."

"And now a third one?" Oryza cursed loudly. Two at the same time was already a rarity, and even then it would not overlap as much as this. But now three was setting a precedent! He hastily gathered what documents had been spread on the table before breaking out into a run towards the command center. It was where he needed to be most in an emergency like this.

…

Oryza took this rare moment to catch his breath as he waited for the door to the command center to slide open. As he walked inside, he could already tell that he was among the last to arrive as everybody was already at their stations ready to pass on orders and intel to their field operators. Someone quickly ran up to greet him.

"Director, I'm glad you're here! We thought you had gone home already!"

"Sorry Mathas, I had to run here from the breakroom. Give me a status report." Oryza apologized and then looked towards the large central display mounted on the far wall. It showed a large map of Singapore and the area surrounding it that were under their jurisdiction. Among the many lights on the screen, there were three brightly flashing dots representing the three new rift events.

"Yes sir," Mathas nodded. As the chief of organization, he was the second in command of operations in the event that the director was not present. He quickly filled Oryza in about what had happened in the few minutes since the alerts had gone out. "Approximately five minutes ago at 2341 hours, three rift events appeared. The first is a red-nil at Singapore Changi Airport in district 17. The second is a yellow-nil at the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery in District 24. And lastly is an orange-nil in a residential area in District 30. I have already directed Quies to depart towards the red-nil in district 17 and she will arrive in approximately eight minutes. Additionally, I have given orders to the Scouts Department's SCT Noctua and SCT Accipiter to split their forces for dispatch."

"I understand." Oryza nodded. SCT Noctua and SCT Accipiter both had around 200 members in their ranks, and half of those on duty at any one time. It took a lot of personnel to secure a rift properly, but it was unavoidable. Rift events were akin to natural disasters; their occurrences were erratic, their dangers unpredictable, and they lasted for an indeterminate amount of time. The fact they could minimize the damages to the degree they have been handled was already a big accomplishment for them.

"This is an unprecedent event. Should we give out recall orders for some of the field operators stationed at low priority rift events outside of Singapore?" Mathas asked.

"No," after looking at the map for a moment in consideration, Oryza shook his head, "let's not do that. Even if the priority is low, it's too risky not to have the proper amount of people in the event that an outbreak occurs. Let's make a call to the police force and get their help instead. We could use their aid clearing out and blockading the area around the area and have our Scouts focus on the rift itself."

"Yes sir," Mathas acknowledged the order. It was a good thing that they had a hotline just for this purpose. It was a hotline they had made use of quite liberally in the past, though it had been largely left untouched since the guild had grown to the sizable organization it was now. Just as the chief of organization was about to make that call, however, something on the intercoms made him stop dead in his tracks and he hurried to report it to Oryza. "Director! I've just received news from the satellite imaging department that the yellow-nil has been reclassified to yellow-1— It's a bonafide outbreak event!"

"What? Are you kidding me?" Oryza cursed loudly. Three rift events in one go, and one of them had already started an outbreak event. Had this been any other occasion, he would have already given the order to dispatch their vanguards, but he could not do that this time. He looked at the three flashing dots at the central display again. If he did that now and the other two also initiated an outbreak event, it would become an unprecedented tragedy. He asked Mathas, "What's the status of our vanguard teams? Who can we send?"

The chief of organization quickly checked the tablet in his hands and then made several quick calls through his earpiece. After a moment, the statuses on the tablet updated and he said, "VGT Set and VGT Eris are off duty right now and VGT Athena is preoccupied with a rift event outside of Singapore. The only ones who are able to dispatch right now are VGT Ares and VGT Tyr, but VGT Tyr will need at least another hour before they are able to go. It seems they are running into some sort of issues with their exo-gears, Director."

VGT Ares was an esoteric vanguard team specialized in handling troublesome creatures without proper tangible forms, whereas VGT Tyr consisted of field operators who specialized in taking care of foes with a more traditional composition. To know which ones to send in, Oryza would first need to see what they were up against.

"Show me the yellow-1's satellite feed."

"Right away."

Mathas tapped several times on his tablet again before handing it over to Oryza. Looking at it, Oryza could see the rift and in front of it was an elephant sized creature with a tail the length of its body. Moreover, he was certain there were spikes of some kind covering the entire tail. It was staying still for now, but there was no telling when it might make a move. He decided it would be best to get consultation from an expert. "Where's Sheng—?"

"—Manticore!" Sheng interjected from across the room. As she was the in-house Arca Archa ethologist, her insight on the behavioral patterns of these creatures were quite useful during any outbreak event. "Specifically, it looks to be a Zenikyra Manticore judging from the size and the spines that cover its backside and tail. They're apex predators and are highly aggressive when defending their territory from competition. When well-fed, they're normally subdued and have a tendency to avoid direct confrontation, but they will still attack if agitated. Since it's in an unfamiliar territory, I recommend using intimidation tactics to make it retreat back through the rift. Though, if you want to be a little spicy, you could try to have it taken down. Manticores are the kings of their territory, so if it gets defeated, there likely isn't going to be any other meaningful threats coming from across the rift until it closes up. Or you could also, heheh, you know, capture it alive. I've always wanted to breed a manticore and capturing one would be a huge step towards this. I'll be really thankful if you could do that, Director."

"I see," Oryza discarded the last parts of what Sheng said and asked the other thing that had been on his mind, "what about those spines? Are they venomous?"

"No, they're not, but the spines themselves are covered in microscopic glass needles that dislodge with the slightest amount of resistance. I would highly recommend our field operators to keep a careful eye on that tail, because victims who have gotten brushed by the spines have likened the pain to, 'being simultaneously burned by fire, electrocuted, and put through a meat grinder at the same time.' There have also been more than just a few instances of otherwise would-be survivors of an attack offing themselves just to end the pain. Yikes."

After listening to Sheng's descriptive explanation of what they were up against, Oryza spent just a moment of careful consideration before giving out his order. It was somewhat risky, but he needed to put up the team most suitable for the task.

"Very well. Dispatch VGT Tyr to take care of the manticore. See if they can take it down safely. If they aren't able to, then force it back through the rift. Sheng, go fill them in on what they're going to be up against so they can adjust their plans accordingly. And make sure to warn them to be extra careful of the tail."

"Leave it to me, bossman." Sheng gave him a two-fingered wave of acknowledgement before turning her chair back to face her station.

…

After being briefed by Mathas, consulting Sheng, and giving out his dispatch orders, there was a rare moment of relative peace for Oryza inside the chaos of the command center. As he looked up, the three rift events on the map continued to flash brightly in their respective colors– red, orange, and yellow– and he could not help but think and worry.

So much was at stake here after all, as was with all rift events that had occurred in the past twenty so years. The worst outbreak event they have ever encountered was just barely averted with the sacrifice of Verretheia. He sighed just thinking about it. Edmond too as well. He did not want to think of what might have happened if things had gone differently back then. Considering what had happened to other parts of the world that had failed to stop an outbreak event, failure was never an option.

"—Director, Quies has arrived at the red-nil!"

"Stay safe, Edmond," Oryza wished his friend safety before focusing back on the crisis at hand. "Understood, put me on the line, Mathas."

…

…

(Three Rifts Arc Begin)