Broonil and his pack stared at the massively thick sheet of ice above them. A white and orange light filtered through the miles thick ice, casting the ocean around them in a soothing ambiance. A brightly lit hole in shades of blue and green beckoned them forward.

Broonil, however, hesitated. His mate swam up next to him and wrapped her tentacles around him. He looked at her carefully, as he’d done since the changes had begun. Evolution, the fish in his head had called it. Most of the changes were subtle, thicker muscles in their arms and torsos, longer fingers, and an opposable thumb on each hand. He felt heavier, sturdier, something his fishy assistant had attributed to bone density. He flexed his new hands and marveled at how the webbing that allowed him to swim quickly could be retracted, or extended at will.

The largest change was to their legs, which had once been long willowy lengths of muscle and fin. Now they had what Little Fish referred to as amphibious legs. With feet which ended in toes with claws. A thick membrane similar to the fins that once adorned his lower body extended out of the sides of his ankles and acted similar to the webbing between his hands, unfurling at will when he needed to swim quickly.

Despite the changes, he was surprised that his speed hadn’t decreased as much as expected. He could still shoot through the water like a rocket, even loaded down with the new equipment they had earned from killing “bosses”, and challenging “encampments” of strange and marvelous creatures. The last couple of months became about surviving, growing, and evolving.

His people had never been this close to the surface. Little Fish insisted that the final stage of their evolution would wait for them topside.

“This is it, my love?” Korass, his mate, asked him, excitement and trepidation bubbling through their connection.

“It is. According to our mental guides, a doorway to another world awaits us on the other side. One with much less ocean.”

“I’m a bit afraid, these changes… they have been sudden and swift, like the Korla Hunters.”

“Indeed, but I am excited to see what this world is like! Let us go brother! The shor’ak’s are restless and will eventually come to investigate.” Brogg, Broonil’s clutch mate appeared on his other side, shrouded in black armor that allowed him to stalk the oceans with almost envious levels of stealth.

Broonil looked back solemnly at his gathered pack and nodded with confidence, “Let’s do this then.”

With his decree made, he shot forward with his mate, brother, and a dozen more of his people in tow. They reached the waiting tunnel within moments. Broonil looked back again to see that his people were with them, then crawled out of the water for the first time in his people’s existence. The first to stand on newly evolved feet.

There was a moment of panic as his lungs adjusted to the thin atmosphere inside the brightly lit tunnel. A burning pain seized his chest, though with the assurances from Little Fish that the sensation would pass, he disciplined himself to remain and adjust as needed.

When he’d adjusted to the atmosphere, he sent a predetermined signal back to his people through the System Communication Network that it was safe, then he took his first shaky step on legs that he’d only ever used for swimming. He stumbled to the side as his mate emerged gasping from the water and braced himself on the wall of the tunnel.

He stood there stoically, taking time to watch his people emerge, as well as staring up the tunnel that angled off into the distance. A faint orange-brown light radiated from the other end. At the top, according to Little Fish, would be a barrier of energy that kept the breathable atmosphere of the tunnel in, and the toxic atmosphere found at the surface of the planetoid they’d lived under their entire lives, out.

“Little Fish…” Broonil paused curiously as he dissected the sound of his voice as it passed through a gaseous medium, “Little Fish, you are certain we can survive long enough to reach this portal?”

The orb that consisted of his Virtual Personal Assistant appeared for everyone to see before she responded, “Absolutely. Taking into account the attributes of your lowest pack member, you have nearly an hour… just watch the timer I provide for you… before you either have to enter the portal or return to this tunnel.”

“I still don’t understand these hours and minutes our fishies speak of, but they haven’t led us into a pack of gurkra yet. And I for one cannot wait to see the true surface of our world!” Brogg exclaimed with excitement, his tentacles waving frantically behind him. Beside him Korass’ long tongue flicked out, carefully tasting the air.

“Let’s go my mate. Let’s explore the surface, then head to this portal.”

The rest of the gathered pack also voiced their eagerness to to explore. With the consensus of the pack delivered, Broonil began a slow, yet eager, march up the tunnel ramp. He watched in anticipation as the outside light grew and changed to reveal the details of a truly massive orb of swirling orange and brown inky clouds in the distance.

He reached the mouth of the tunnel and stepped through the blue hex-grid energy barrier without hesitation. He took three steps before he stopped in shock at the stark coldness of the world he’d emerged into. Never before had he ever seen anything so flat or smooth. Particles of ice swirled on barely felt winds as the timer that Little Fish had promised appeared in his vision.

Brogg looked about, wonder clear on his face. “Look, another moon. There!” He pointed at a small speck in the black sky that hung motionlessly at the edge of the great planet their own home circled. “And that! That must be the planet Jupiter that my fish has told me about!”

The imposing planet hung in the sky, dominating everything around it. Broonil felt a wave to trepidation roll over him as he gazed on her cruel beauty. Never had he seen something so awe inspiring, not even the great Leviathan they had slain as their last test before reaching the surface.

“I have trouble imagining that such a thing is real!” Korass whispered in his ear, cuddling close for warmth. His tentacles instinctively entwined in hers as they stared at what may be the greatest thing they had ever seen.

“Look brother, that must be the portal.” Brogg pointed into the distance at a large circular structure made of dark metal, sunk partly into the ice.

They quickly covered the distance in several quick leaps and bounds through the weak gravity of Europa. One of his pack had leapt so high he thought he might not come down, but soon he landed with a look of fear and relief on his face as they gathered around the portal.

A small panel stood to the side of the structure displaying information on the status of the portal in a language he knew as English. It had been loaded into his mind by his assistant, though he’d yet attempted to speak it himself. He knew from his assistant that when he approached the device he should place his hand on it to activate it, so he did.

Planetary portal on standby…

Would you like to claim ownership of Portal ZEJ1X-000230210118146782? Yes/No?

“Yes.” He spoke out loud, testing the foreign language.

The panel chimed three times then the display changed to feed him new information.

Confirmed, Broonil, Leviathan Hunter has claimed ownership of Portal ZEJ1X-000230210118146782.

Establishing connection with Portal network and calibrating viable end point destinations…

1 compatible destination located: Earth, Arizona… finalize connection? Yes/No?

“Yes.” He spoke the word again, then asked, “Little Fish, what can you tell me about Earth, Arizona?”

Audron E’fi, Mana Saturation Administrator

Audron grimaced at the readout on his panel. Over a dozen more ships from varying races appeared shortly after the Screechers, or Skrootkxl as the System translates it, appeared in the system. While the Screechers had abided by his direction to the letter, he could tell the other new arrivals were getting restless and had begun testing the bounds of his patience.

There were none above Master rank in the immigration ships, so he didn’t feel any particular threat from them, even the warlike Orgisk. He’d kicked a few of their asses a few times before reaching his Ascendent class promotion, and was familiar with all of their tricks.

No, what concerned him the most at the moment was the pair of Reapers that had entered the system a few days ago, transmitted their ident codes, announced themselves then proceeded to park themselves at the L5 Lagrange point above Earth.

Beyond that, Rusne’s project to restart the core of Venus was moving along at a reasonable pace. Much of the ancient machinery that humanity’s ancestors had created needed to be rebuilt. Fortunately, with the power of Mana, a diagram was quickly recreated and the structures were now slowly coming online. Soon, the massive planet sized particle accelerator at the core of Venus would be spun up to begin jumpstarting the stubborn Venusian core.

Hundreds of ice asteroids were being dropped by the Marchana’s massive drone fleet, adding millions of tons of water vapor to the atmosphere while ever so slightly lowering the planet's oppressive temperature. At the same time, the asteroid drones would deliver their payloads, they would slingshot through the outer atmosphere, scooping sulfur and CO2 to be delivered to Mars. Where they would deliver that payload, then head back out into the nearby asteroid belt to retrieve another ice asteroid for Venus.

Meanwhile, on Mars, two major projects were being completed. First, the polar ice caps were being melted by orbiting lasers. Already rivers were beginning to flow out from the edges of the caps to refill long dormant riverbeds. Of course, all of this water might get scorched away by solar activity if they don’t restore some semblance of a magnetic field, so an artificial network of field generators was currently being deployed. These massive devices would form a barrier around the world that protected it from the ravages of solar radiation. They would never breakdown or need servicing so long as the System, and by extension, Mana remained in place.

By his own estimation, Mars would be habitable far sooner than Venus. There were a lot of bad gasses that needed to be replaced with good gasses. And though Mana could do many things, it was still a daunting task to increase the spin rate of trillions of tons of mass. As he pondered the projects and arrivals around the System, an alert flashed on his panel.

Planetary portal connection has been established between Europa and Earth…

“Huh, guess the fish have left the pond.” Rusne remarked from her station in front of him.

“So it would seem, where is the exact connection point on Earth?”

Rusne tapped some commands into her panel and hesitated to answer before turning to him with a slight smirk on her face, “Arizona, a couple dozen miles south of the Universe’s favorite new Reaper’s domain.”

Audron braced his head in one palm, preparing for the oncoming headache, “I swear the System is orchestrating this shit.”

The Being, Soo Hoo Military Settlement

The Being, having observed the Reaper's final victory against the Lich King from his perch, decided it was time to explore the town in person. He could have easily remained atop the floating mesa, but something about these people tugged at long forgotten memories. A stroll amongst them might be refreshing and/or enlightening.

So it was without much preamble that he picked a checkpoint to enter through and began his personal exploration of the quickly growing settlement. He noted several watchtowers and outposts scattered at seemingly random intervals throughout the city. Though on closer inspection he determined that if all of the outposts were manned, they would have roughly 90% visible coverage of all the buildings in the settlement. Far cheaper and more efficient use of resources than the creation of walls and fortifications. Though those too had their uses, even within the System.

Of course, the original holdout still stood, presumably as a final fallback point in case they were ever invaded and pushed back. The administrative building still stood within, though the original barracks buildings had been removed for more housing and an expansion of the infirmary to a clinic. The administrative building itself had also been expanded to allow larger offices, executive apartments, and several conference rooms. The initial farms that had been built along the East side of the early settlement were abandoned, and the land repurposed for another pair of tenements.

The original market, which The Being now walked through, perusing the wares of a talented jewelry maker, had expanded to press up against the south and east fortifications. While a larger more centralized market existed a mile away where the pre-System shopping area had been, there was still substantial traffic through this sector of the city. Some of these people will make excellent craftsmen, I think.

The Being bought a skewer of BBQ Chicken from a street vendor and chewed on the savory treat while heading for the New Winslow River to get a look at the Reaper’s mate. He approached from upriver, which put him downwind of the Reaper’s soulbound companion. Somehow the beast still managed to detect his presence.

It stood, fur bristling, fangs exposed in a low growl, even as The Being stood several hundred meters away, chewing on the flavored meat in his mouth. Beside the massive gray furred beast was the diminutive form of the plant woman that the Reaper had taken as a mate. She stood almost motionless, basking in the sun, as her brood swayed contentedly, still attached to her body. She noticed the anxiousness of her mate’s companion, then swiveled her head to unerringly lock him in her gaze.

“Relax Kaia”, she said as she brushed her fingers behind the animal’s ear, “If this one wished us dead, we wouldn’t be able to stop him.” She tensed briefly, then smiled, “Go, bring my man back to me.”

The great coyote whined while looking directly at The Being, “Go, you cannot do anything here. I will be fine.” With one last reluctant look, the beast darted off around some houses to race into the desert towards where he’d left his master.

The Being took the opportunity to approach the green woman directly. He moved up to stand beside her as she continued to bask, though her face winced every now and again. He reached back into his memory, trying to figure out how to approach the coming conversation when the strange woman stole the opportunity away.

“You’re the Being I sensed at the top of the mesa. Your presence has been giving me a headache.”

The Being was taken aback by her directness, “Uh, yes. I suppose I am.”

“You’re powerful, far too powerful to be of this planet. Or this Verse.”

Again, The Being was slightly surprised, “You are aware of the Multi-Verse?”

“While this planet is new to the System, I am not. But that is not why you are here. Do you wish Karl harm?”

The Being pursed his lips in quiet thought, “No, I do not. I sensed something in the young man. Something from my own forgotten past. It drew me out of my meditation.”

An unnoticed tension in Junipher’s stance eased at his statement. If The Being hadn’t been a God, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all. “Then what is it you want?”

He considered her question momentarily, “I want to watch him a bit longer, and possibly guide him, if I find him worthy.”

Junipher looked at him carefully for many long moments, “We go south soon, to plant our seedlings. I sensed another, not as powerful as you, will that one be a problem?”

“Ah, yes, the Champion Seeker. He has already claimed his Champion, you needn’t worry about any direct interference from that one, though one day your Reaper may face his Chosen.”

Junipher released an audible sigh of relief. She looked at the strangely stoic man that had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, so many days ago. He had a visible aura that radiated barely contained power and sorrow. Her thoughts raced with the possibility she stood in the presence of a bonafide God. Not the made up ones that cultures worshipped and begged for deliverance. But a God made physical by the System. Forever living, invincible, and all powerful. The pressure in her head increased with every second of his presence, though she couldn’t detect any conscious animosity towards her. It was simply the nature of his being, of his power.

Sensing their conversation was done, he began to walk off, a light chuckle escaping his throat.

“What do they call you?” She asked.

He paused mid-step and looked over his shoulder, “I don’t remember my own name. I suppose you can just refer to me as The Forgotten God. I’ll see if I can further restrain my aura, Junipher Oakenheart.”

She furrowed her brow as he walked off, My last name is not publicly available...