The sound of footsteps echoed through the halls. Not only had Xavier arrived, but a special task force was sweeping the entire facility. Someone seemed to have noticed an unknown user gained administrative access to the facility’s network, and it appears Xavier wanted to look into the matter personally. As he entered the lab, a pair of soldiers could be seen standing guard by the door.

Xavier was a High Elf, and relatively tall, standing at 6’1”. His body was quite slender, but it was well toned and trained. Contrasting well with his radiant blue eyes, his hair was long and a light golden color that seemed to shimmer in the light. A distinct, arrowhead-like marking on his forehead was the only notable feature on his pale white face. He wore a bright, white suit with golden accents, and seemed to always have what looked like some kind of spellbook hung on his hip.

Midnight had made himself scarce just moments before Xavier had walked in, waiting and watching to see what would happen.

Xavier: “Mr. Hamblin, Ms. Silva, I believe it’s been a while since we last met. I hope you’ve both been well. Did you enjoy your time out of the lab?”

Eranor: “A pleasure to see you again, Sir Veremire. I did indeed, even if most of it was spent in and around the facility.” *chuckles lightly*

Aya: *nervously* “Uhh, yea. Good to see you again. My time out was pretty uneventful...for the most part.”

Xavier: “Yes, I’d imagine so. Now, I’ll keep things brief. It would appear as though we’ve had a security breach in your facility’s network, and as none of the rest of the personnel seem to have noticed anything out of the ordinary, naturally, I believe you two may be able to help me find the source. Although, I’m sure we’re all well aware as to what the cause was, the task force is more of a formality.”

As he’d explained the situation to the pair, Xavier had walked over to the center workstation, and taken note of the cube shaped container with the damaged nanites inside. Aya looked at Eranor with a pained expression, he gave her a gentle pat on the arm to reassure her, and began explaining.

Eranor: “Well, we weren’t aware of it at the time, but calling him a ‘fast-learner’ would be an understatement. Prolonged exposure to any kind of technology, and likely magics as well, seems to be all he needs to gather an understanding of what it is and how it works as of right now. It seems he’d taken note of how we interacted with the network and wasted no time getting familiar with it, as well as our work.”

Xavier: “But at the very least the breach is related, so that’s less cause for concern.”

Xavier then spoke to the special task force over comms and let them know the situation was under control, relieving them, and sending them back to await a new assignment. Aya’s expression was that of confusion, but also relief.

Aya: “Wait, so you knew he was here? And you just let me worry about it for no reason?”

Eranor: “Now now, it wasn’t without reason. We weren’t entirely certain that our guest was ready to meet us all at once, after all, he did ask you not to reveal his presence didn’t he?”

Aya: “But he told me that telepathically, how did you-”

Xavier: “While you were in the medical ward, he communicated with you as they were running diagnostics. The equipment that examined the condition of your mind and psyche also picks up on any audio and visual signals relayed to your brain at the time of testing. We can thank the advancements in magitech for that. Either way, we didn’t want him to feel threatened so we’ve just kept an eye out for you from a distance. After all, we wouldn’t want him to feel cornered or perceive us as his enemy.”

Aya: “You mean to tell me you’ve been aware of this since it started?”

Xavier: “With the exception of your very first encounter, yes, that would be correct. We have a nation to protect, surely you wouldn’t expect us not to be on the lookout?”

It may have been purely by chance, or maybe he knew more than he was letting on, but it was apparent now that Xavier wasn’t the head councilman for no reason. Aya realized that there were still many things she didn’t know, and by extension neither did Midnight.

Aya: “Hold on, if you wanted to keep him from seeing you as a threat, then why storm the facility now?”

Xavier: “We wouldn’t have, but without getting him the proper permissions, it’d be difficult to discern a breach as being his curiosity, or an actual breach by someone who is trying to steal information. Now more than before, we have to be cautious in the event that anyone discovers his existence. The threat of having spies or traitors among our own is always a possibility. So as much as I would have liked to avoid intervening, it’s too much of a risk to leave him here unchecked, and out of our system, especially when we’re uncertain as to what he’s capable of.”

Aya: “Well, when you put it that way, I guess it does make a lot of sense. Those aren’t really things I’ve ever thought to worry about...but what happens now?”

Eranor: “I know you may not like this, but I believe he may have already outgrown our facility, Aya. He’s redesigned his own nanites, and even made a working model of the micro-manufactory. I don’t believe we have much more to show him. If he’s meant to help us further in the future, we’ll have to let him continue to grow his capabilities elsewhere.”

Aya was visibly saddened at the statement. She knew they’d part ways at some point, but didn’t expect it so soon. It was a nice change of pace having Midnight around, almost like the sibling she’d never had, even if he was a bit frightening at first. A cloud of black dust seemingly appeared from nowhere as Midnight reformed himself in front of Aya, standing several inches taller than her this time. He stepped forward lightly and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as if he already knew he’d be departing soon. His body was surprisingly warm, and relatively soft, making it very comforting. She hugged him back quietly, and after a moment she’d let go.

Xavier and Eranor didn’t make any remarks at the sight, letting them have their moment. Once they let go, Midnight gently patted Aya’s head, then turned to face Xavier. He was more confident in his abilities now that he had better control over his body, as such, his objective now would be to regain his lost memories. He agreed to go along with Xavier, but wanted to know everything, every last detail that may be relevant to his origins. Naturally, Xavier would answer all of his questions, and explain their own circumstances along the way. He was their guest of honor after all, the prodigal son of everything they believed in, not some tool to be swayed or misused for personal gain.

As they’d finished setting their terms, Midnight bid his farewells to Aya and Eranor, thanking them for their time and for helping him refine his body. Xavier waved his hand and had opened a portal to transport the two of them to their next location. For security reasons, he wouldn’t be able to disclose where they were going, but he did assure the two of them that Midnight would be able to return occasionally, should the circumstances allow it. Without further delay, the two of them entered the portal, and it quickly closed behind them.

Silence filled the lab now that Xavier and Midnight had left. Eranor tried to reassure Aya that he’d be back to visit at some point, it’d only be a matter of time. A light ping was heard by the workstation. There was a notification on the Holo-Crystal. Still disheartened by the sudden departure, Aya reluctantly walked over to the terminal, and opened the notification. As she read over the message:

“To my friends, may these aid you in your endeavors. In time I will return.”

Her expression lit up. Attached, there were dozens of experimental prints, designs, and concepts for a variety of projects they had planned and previously worked on. He’d expanded on the concepts they’d already established and laid out a roadmap of projects they could undertake in the following months, maybe even years. Though he may be gone for some time, they certainly would not be forgetting him any time soon.

Upon exiting the portal, Midnight had found himself in some kind of control room. There were numerous workstations and screens, most of which were occupied by various humanoids, all of which had roughly the same kind of uniform. Once Xavier had come through, the portal closed behind them. He tapped Midnight on the shoulder and gestured to follow him. They walked out through the main entrance to the room and proceeded down a long corridor, passing by all kinds of rooms. Along the way, Xavier gave Midnight a brief rundown of everything he knew regarding him; the legends in the ruins, his relevance to their gods, and then followed with an explanation of their intentions.

Xavier: “The main reason we’ve brought you here is so that we can integrate you into our system, and to run a few tests with you.”

Midnight: “What kinds of tests?”

Xavier: “As far as we can tell, be it of your own doing, or simply it being your nature, you appear to be able to analyze and integrate most kinds of tech and magic. We’d like to see how far your abilities can go given what we have available to us. Think of it as a warm up, before heading out into the field. I’d imagine you have interests in seeing the other ruins, but we won’t be able to safely reach them yet, and it’d be best if we got a good measure of your abilities before we made any kinds of arrangements.”

Midnight mulled over what he'd been told. He’s curious himself to see the full extent of his capabilities, and wouldn't be able to investigate his origins without going to the ruins. There’s no guarantee that his memories would return by just waiting around either, and given the circumstances, it’s not as if he isn’t somewhat indebted to his hosts for granting him a new vessel.

After agreeing, he was escorted to the testing chambers, which were significantly larger than he had expected. Once inside, the entrance closed and was audibly sealed shut. The chambers were large open expanses, simulating the outdoors. The walls were well over 20 meters tall, and towards the ceiling were glass observation rooms, meanwhile, the environment was rich in flora, and there were small quantities of passive fauna. They were well aware that Midnight, as a non-biological being, didn’t actually need food or rest. He would however require materials to repair or reproduce any lost nanites during the trials, which he would be provided as needed.

As he walked about and surveyed the area, he heard a voice through the intercom system.

“For your first trial, we will be releasing several small predators into the chamber. You may choose to deal with them in any way that seems appropriate.”

Immediately after the announcement, a set of doors opened on either side of the chamber, releasing 3 creatures each. Upon closer inspection, they were quadrupeds with scale-like skin, with a variety of patterns in dark blues and grays, with yellow accents. They didn’t appear to have eyes, but likely used some form of echolocation to navigate the landscape. They had long thin tails, retractable claws, and their snouts were unsettlingly long, with multiple rows of teeth. Most of the small fauna fled into trees, holes in the ground, or into the body of water nearby, leaving Midnight as the only “living” creature on the surface.

Initially, Midnight simply observed the creatures from a distance, as they prowled around the chamber, seemingly mapping out their surroundings. After a while the two individual groups had come close enough to each other, resulting in a sort of conflict between them. The presumed “alphas” of the two groups began to circle each other, looking for an opening to strike. In one swift motion, one of them leapt at the other, pinning it to the ground. The remaining 4 would not intervene, and as the creature struggled to free itself, the other began assailing it with its jaws, making noises akin to roars and screeches between each bite.

The assault only lasted a few moments, but it was clear that the creature on the ground was still alive by the time it’d stopped. The injured creature seemed to have conceded defeat, and its life was spared. In those short moments, the groups settled who the leader would be, and resumed patrolling, with their numbers doubled. Their methodical movements across the chamber made it apparent that in a few moments, they’d discover Midnight was there. Yet, he simply stood there, waiting.

As the creatures approached his position, there was a noticeable change in their demeanor, as though they were aware something strange was in the vicinity. They navigated the area cautiously, and occasionally growled, but he remained still. After a few moments they moved on. This confirmed to him that they relied on their other senses to determine what’s in their surroundings, and as he was non-biological, and his temperature would match his environment if he remained still, they most likely couldn’t tell the difference between him and any other inanimate object. A voice was heard over the intercom again.

“In the interest of fairness, we’d like you to be aware that none of the creatures in the field will be removed unless necessary, and you may not be able to avoid the second test in this manner. We’d advise you to take some kind of action, but if not then we’ll begin the second test shortly.”

The creatures were notably disturbed by the sound, weighing his options, Midnight decided to act now, rather than deal with two sets of problems. It didn’t take long for them to notice him either, the moment he began to move they turned in his general direction. Taking note of the unknown presence, their posture changed as they moved to surround him. A series of growls and calls could be heard from them as they took their positions. Although he couldn’t look at all of them at the same time, he was still able to sense their presence, in a similar fashion to how the creatures could see without eyes.

The six creatures began to circle him, keeping a steady pace, none making any sudden movements. Having a vague idea of what was to come, Midnight readied himself. As the leader quickly snapped his jaw once, it’d begun. One by one, each of them took turns charging and snapping at him before quickly retreating back to the rest of them circling him. It wasn’t exactly difficult to avoid being bitten, but the seemingly random pattern of attack left little room for mistakes. After a few moments, their charging became lunges, as they aimed to strike him center mass and knock him off balance. Midnight was forced to stay low to avoid them as they leapt at him, leaving themselves exposed as they passed beside and over him.

Having noticed this opening, Midnight waited for his opportunity, and struck one of them as it was passing by him, though it appeared this was part of their strategy. The moment he made contact, four of the others quickly broke formation and went straight for his limbs, biting down and forcing him to the ground. At this point he was mildly annoyed with how things were proceeding, he didn’t want to harm them, but it seemed as though his options were running out. Their leader stepped up, and in a similar manner to the earlier fight, he appeared to be pinning him down, and preparing to maul him. An idea crossed Midnight's mind, as he seemingly dissolved into the air around them, and then reformed himself behind their leader. They were taken aback by the sudden change, but quickly composed themselves to begin their assault again. Before they did, however, Midnight attempted to mimic their cries and growls from before, when the two leaders had challenged each other.

Their demeanor had completely changed, and to Midnight’s surprise it seemed to have worked. The five followers surrounded the two and waited as their leader and the new challenger faced one another. The two of them circled each other, waiting for their opportunity. Like before, it lunged at him threatening to take him down with its body weight, but Midnight was ready. As the creature struck him, he pivoted back, using its own momentum to run it into the ground. Without a moment to lose, he quickly reshaped his hands into clamps, pinning the creature's limbs down and digging into the ground to keep them there. He similarly dug his legs into the ground. Once again he began to mimic their sounds as he roared and growled down at it, now unable to break free. Unfortunately, that alone wouldn’t be enough for it to give in. Reluctantly, he created a second set of arms with his nanites, and began clawing at the creature as he attempted to break its will.

It took a while longer than the previous encounter, but after enough “convincing” it’d finally stopped resisting, and conceded defeat. Midnight slowly eased off of the creature, making sure it didn’t make any sudden movements. Once he was up, it clambered onto its feet, and bowed to him, marking the rightful transfer of leadership. Although it’d seemed like a good idea at the start, He quickly realized he knew nothing about leading them, although luckily for him, they also seemed aware of that fact. As opposed to before, where they followed the leader around patrolling the chamber, they’d all positioned themselves around him, as if prepared to support whatever actions he takes. If he was at ease, so were they. For a moment everything was calm, until the intercom broke the silence.

“Well, that’s certainly one way to handle things, although we may not have that kind of time when we’re actually on the field, but we’ll allow it. If you have no objections, we’ll go ahead and begin the next test in 5 minutes”

Once again this disturbed the creatures, but they quickly settled down. The idea of more unnecessary fighting didn’t exactly thrill him, but if they believed he needed the experience then so be it. If it came down to it, it’d probably be best to end each test quickly, to avoid unnecessary damage to both himself and the other entities. As the time passed, his new followers seemed to grow uneasy. A chime over the intercom indicated the beginning of the next test. This time, a considerably larger gate had opened across the chamber, and through it entered another creature. Unlike before, there was only one. It was several times larger than the previous six, standing around 5.5ft tall on all fours and sharing a similar scaly appearance. It was a very dark shade of blue, with very bright, cyan colored accents. It had a panther-like appearance, but its shoulders, back, and head appeared to have some kind of retractable spines, or spikes. A large portion of its back and neck were covered in gray fur. Its paws made a notable thud on the ground as it entered the chamber.

Straight away, it looked directly towards Midnight and the other creatures surrounding him, who’d become incredibly skittish as it’d entered the chamber. Its roar caught them all by surprise, almost like thunder as the sound bounced around the chamber. Wasting no time at all, the 6 creatures fled from Midnight’s side and headed directly towards the Panther-like one, with their heads all hung low. They lined up in front of it and bowed their heads as they knelt. There was likely some kind of hierarchy among the creatures, and it was apparent they feared the panther far more than they did Midnight.

With a second glance towards Midnight, the creature roared again, sounding more displeased than before. Seeing as he wouldn’t yield, the panther stepped forward past the other creatures, and began to charge at him. As it approached, he dispersed into the air like before as it ran past where he once stood, and reformed himself behind it. Sliding to a stop, it was clear the panther would not be reasoned with, the spikes on its body stood on their ends and flashes of light could be seen as what looked like electricity started arcing between them. Once again it began to charge at him. Midnight was set on using the same strategy again once it's close enough again. Right as he was preparing to disperse himself, the panther let out a flash of lightning from its jaws. To any regular creature, this shock would be enough to paralyze them, but for Midnight, it temporarily rendered him incapable of dispersing into the air. Having realized his mistake, he immediately moved to minimize the impact, but he was too late. As the panther crossed his path, it swatted him with its powerful paws, sending him flying towards the edge of the chamber. The sound of metals bending was heard as he impacted the reinforced wall.

His entire body was vibrating as the impact had triggered a reaction from the Triorium based nanites in his body. He began to micromanage the vectors to contain the reaction and prevent further damage to his body. It was clear he’d overestimated the simplicity of these tests, and his reliance on his capabilities made him realize if he didn’t take every encounter seriously, he may not have enough resources to make it to the next.

Having noticed that he was still moving, the panther began charging in his direction yet again. As it approached him, he redirected the impact’s vectors to his hand, and once the panther was ready to swat at him again, he lunged up toward it, striking it on the side of its head and transferring the energy of the impact directly to it. The panther slid a short distance away, shaking its head and slightly off balance. This seemingly only angered it more as it let out another roar, it’s accents beginning to glow as electricity started to arc wildly along the spikes on its body.

Midnight wasted no time preparing counter measures, and created an energy shield to mitigate the impacts of the lightning, it was thin and see-through, but it absorbed the lightning, and was light enough to allow him to move freely. The panther furiously continued to strike him with lightning as it regained its balance, and began closing in on him. The purple accents on Midnight’s body began to glow as he absorbed the lightning and welled up his own energy to prepare his counter. The panther creeped ever closer, continuing its lightning barrage as it came within reach of his prey. Once it was close enough, the lightning ceased. At that exact moment, Midnight disabled his energy shield, and let out a blinding flash of light. The ground could be heard crumbling seconds after the flash of light, and within seconds, it was all over...