-----Ipsiota-----

I found myself wandering through the halls of the vessel, completely lost.

There was no Statusin access, holo or glass.

"What kind of ship doesn't have computers on it?"

Then it hit me. I wasn't on an Empire ship. I don't know why I assumed I was. This whole place reeked of pirate activity.

Excellent. There would be no tracker on the pod that I would steal and no Empire to deal with. This ship was probably on its way to go illegally siphon off some starstuff from the starstuff geysers.

I was still lost, though.

A dragonkin in a blue jumpsuit passed through the intersection of the hallways. He walked backwards to catch a look at me.

He yelled something in what was either Wyrmish or Elini. Then he ran at full speed down the hall. I ran faster than him and I caught up. A blow to the back brought him down and a glimpse at my glowing-white hand made him stop struggling.

"I'll blow your head to pieces," I said in my native Origin language.

"Go ahead, you don't know how to steer this ship," he growled in a thick accent. Sharp teeth menaced me but I was still on top of him.

"All I need is one warp drive and a pod," I threatened with my hand inching closer to his head, "Where are they?"

"On the lower hull," he grimaced, "You won't even arrive to Antaedos in one. They're old and run on combustion fuels. Who knows if they still work."

"You mean you don't even know this ship?" I let go a little.

"I know how to steer it—somewhat—because I was a pirate once. Not anymore. I've lived in peace here since the mutiny killed everyone."

"Take us to Earth," I let him go completely and stood up, "Take us into Earth's orbit."

"Why? That's prohibited space," he coughed a little, "The wards around it are immensely powerful."

"I can deal with it, just bring me up close,"

"Why should I? How did you even get on the ship?"

"Magic," I half-lied.

"That doesn't answer the first question,"

"If you take me to Earth I won't bother you anymore," I lied again, "Plus it's not like I can get off on my own. Someone dumped me here."

"Fine, but if I get the Empire on my ass about this, you bet I'm coming after you,"

He led me to the control room and sat down in the captain's chair. With a few glances at the LCD screens he changed the direction of the ship.

"Here I come,"

-----Carlos-----

I went to Charms the next day. Something was off. I think I only noticed because of how messed up reality seemed to be in that room. Somebody, sometime, must have enchanted the class in a way that distorted the fabric of existence.

I managed to see through the Oblivion effect.

"Noah," I gasped. That brought me to another point.

"Daniela!" I gasped again.

I was lucky we were in hands-on practice so there was no lecture to interrupt.

I brought up a Statusin and messaged Grady through the group chat.

"Something is going on," I typed into the hologram keyboard, "Remember Noah?"

She took a moment to answer, "Wait, what?"

"And Daniela," I added.

"Holy shit, you guys finally remembered me," a message from her came in, "I've been waiting this whole time. I'm sitting next to you, Stacey."

"How did I forget Noah????" Grady typed frantically.

"What happened to him?" Dania came through.

They completely glossed over our missing friend, "I think it's the Charms room, Daniela. Whatever is wrong with you it's still affecting the rest of them. Whatever this is I'll probably forget as soon as I leave the room."

"Is this the Oblivion effect?" Dania asked.

"Why would we need one?" Stacey responded.

"He's part of the government," Jozeey responded.

"He went up against a party leader," Grady obviously was onto something, "It was really big. What if they induced Oblivion. What if they obliviated us?"

"Why is it this easy to remember?" Sabine asked, "Shouldn't it be tougher?"

"We're strong right now," I explained, "Whatever magic they used they probably didn't factor in the discovery rush."

"I'm still here," Daniela replied.

"Come into the Charms class, I'll try to get help," I hoped someone could do something for her.

-----Ipsiota-----

The trip to Earth's orbit was a short one.

"I'm going into the exosphere," I told the dragonkin. I could see the blue oceans and green continents through the window.

It was weird. Montressor was patchy and gray in many parts because of the enormous cities. Montressor had visible veins of traveling hovercraft traffic crisscrossing it. The Sky Grid was always visible at night and if you squinted and looked at an angle, it was visible during the day.

Earth was so pure. Too bad it had to go.

"I'm going out," I announced, "Stay here. I need you to take me back to Montressor."

"The pods are at the hull, like I said," he turned to look at me with suspicion.

I ran the whole way to the elevators and went down to the hangar at the base of the hull. Inside there were three pods. They were oddly cylindrical and had several exhaust pipes.

I got in one and realized I didn't know how to even maneuver it. I pressed the communications button and rang up Ouno. That was his name. I don't think I'll see him again after this, but I'll remember to look him up.

"I figured," he sighed with exasperation, "I'll take remote command. Just tell me how far in you want to go."

The whole ship roared to life and all the lights turned on. Through the window of the cockpit I could see the hangar doors opening to let the void peer in.

The cylindrical pod slowly followed the rails it was set on and then it was released. The engines began burning their fuel. The pod lurched forward and I fell to the ground.

Fortunately the pod was recent enough to have gravity enhancers.

I got back up and made my way to the back of the pod where I had seen space suits as I had boarded. I put on the white skintight suit and then I put on the helmet.

I pressed the communications button next to the door of the room I was in.

"I'm ready," I announced. I attached the space walk cord to my back and then I opened the hatch.

The void didn't just peer in. It reached in impatiently and sucked me out of the airlock chamber. I flipped around uncontrollably until I managed to turn on the suit's stability pack.

Below me was the planet Earth in all of its glorious natural colors. I doubt very many people on Earth or even on Montressor ever had this point of view.

I reached for the endstone pendant around my neck. My father created it for me so that I would be immune to the power-draining environment that I grew up in. It has been useful in many situations, and now it would probably be destroyed.

I didn't have anything else of his remaining. Too bad.

-----Carlos-----

Grady called Noah in a group line. He didn't answer the first time, but the second time, when we all called at once, he answered.

"Noah, did something happen to you?! Why where we obliviated?" Grady asked.

His face was sullen, "Nothing happened."

"What?" Grady asked in confusion.

Daniela was next to me now. She was anxious about this.

"I obliviated you all. Poorly, obviously, since I'm not a magician at all, but I tried. There is a lot of political unrest that the public doesn't know about and I don't want you all involved in this. I'm thinking people could get hurt."

"You could have told us," Grady was hurt, "I would have understood."

"You wouldn't have. I had to do it forcefully. You don't know what's been happening. I'm sorry, but I had to."

-----Ipsiota-----

With the cylinder pod behind me and Earth before me I spread my arms wide open. I allowed my energy to flow into the pendant, which floated on the end of the string which held it.

I could now see all the wards protecting Earth drawn on by different civilizations, Earthling and extraterrestrial alike. Some of the sigils floated around in patterns while others stayed on fixed points. They were varicolored and some emitted faint lights.

I poured more of my energy into the pendant and then I brought my hands together in a powerful clap.

A gap formed in the wards but they did not fall.

Oh no.

The demon that was imprisoned emerged through the gap. It was only a faint shadow but it was not something you could overlook. It was a blob. It extended a limb towards me but I poured the last of my safe energy into the pendant.

It enveloped the force field created by the stone and then passed over me.

It was gone before I knew it. Into space where it probably came from.

I fucked up.

-----Carlos-----

"Okay, but I'm not stupid, we have shit going on in America, too—" Grady was interrupted by the sound of sirens.

I looked at Daniela and she disappeared.

"We have an emergency," Noah looked afraid. Sirens wailed on his side, too, "I'll call you in a moment."

He left the call.

The professor asked us to all sit down.

"I don't think this is a drill!" Professor Ousala yelled through loudspeaker charm, "There are defensive wards all over the school but I'm adding an emergency do-it-all. Take notes!"

His arms moved about in a blur and he chanted in Wyrmish. Sigils appeared and floated in the air around him then expanded to line the white walls of the room.

"Good luck, my children," his voice was soft now, "As long as you stay in here you will survive. It is my time. Goodbye."

He thudded to the floor and several people yelled in surprise.

"That killed him!" a human girl yelled.

"He died for us?!" An Oonish student exclaimed.

The group was still on the line. They had heard it all.

An announcement came from Andrelos, "Students, remain calm. The Magai Empire is facing an impending attack from Federated Liada. Please set up additional defenses if possible, and please, get into a room and stay in it. We should be safe from attack for at least an hour or so."

Noah came back on the line. I was biting my nails.

"The Liadans are attacking," his face was pale, "They're claiming that a Magai citizen released the demon that attacked them. They are on their way, and they'll be here within thirty minutes."

"Can the Empire fight them off?" Dania asked oddly calmly.

"I don't know if we can! They've mobilized their whole military. All of it. We're unprepared for this. The governments are being evacuated but nothing is being done about civilians. I got word that at least five billion deaths are expected..." a tear ran down his cheek.

Five billion. Seventy percent of Earth's population. Gone.

"What can we do?" I asked. My voice cracked, "Are we safe at the UM?"

"No," Noah said after a moment, "Safer than in the capital and the big cities, yes, but not safe. Follow the dean's directions. You don't know what you're getting into it you leave the UM."

I looked up the Liadans on the Statusin as Noah gave more warnings.

"Androids?" I asked as I read off the screen.

"Yes, a lot of magic doesn't work against them. They are built to be combat resistant."

"Their whole military, you said," I responded.

"Yes, which is their whole population," he glanced away, "They are all under totalitarian mind control. One hundred billion of them are on their way, all built to fight."

"And we're three hundred twenty billion," Stacey was doing research as well.

"You think the Triumvirate doesn't know that? Only a few million are in the military and only fourth billion are magically trained!"

He spoke aggressively to someone on the floor of the Assembly.

"I'm not going!" He yelled, "I'm staying with my constituents."

He dropped the line.

"Uma," I whispered.

"Let's go get her!" Jozeey exclaimed, speaking for the first time.

"Are you crazy? Risk our lives for someone we hardly know?" Stacey snapped.

"I'm going. If you're not, drop the line," I said through gritted teeth, "She's the only one who can help me."

Stacey and Dania's screens went to black.

Marco came on.

"I'm in," he said with raised eyebrows.

"Why?" Sabine was surprised.

"I'm in the same class as Jozeey, I'm hearing it all. I'm in."

"So we're going. Let's get an X-Flier and go to the capital. Let's save Uma," I announced.

I got up and opened the door. People tried in vain to stop me from leaving but I did.

Once I was in the hallway I saw a lot of people walking towards the parking lot of the building. I heard them say it. Like the subway station, this was in the center section of the building.

I had Grady, Sabine, Jozeey, and Marco on the line.

"Go to the parking lot," I told them. The sirens were still going on so I had to yell over them, "It shouldn't be too far."

I met up with them and we called up one of the student-use X-Fliers. We got in as it opened up its door.

"Take us to Magai City as quickly as possible," I ordered.

"There is currently a war zone warning over that area. Proceed?"

"Proceed," I said hastily.

X-Fliers took off with us and flew towards the capital. The traffic was mostly gone except for a few stragglers.

In fifteen minutes we could see the edge of the city.

"Take us to the hospital where Uma Celen Reqqna is at," I ordered again.

"Capital City Hospital Number 27," the Statusin responded.

It edged a bit north.

"Enemy vessels identified," the computer read out. The roof of the Statusin turned transparent and I saw the mess we were in.

As we flew low now, between the bases of the skyscrapers, we could see swarms and swarms of Liadan fighter planes spewing from the sun-covering mothership. They immediately began shooting at buildings, knocking them over. Explosions sounded from all sides and I took evasive action.

"Ignore traffic rules, we're in a war zone. Fly faster!"

We all fell into each other as the hovercraft tilted on its side to avoid falling debris from buildings tumbling around us.

"Where's the Magai fighters?" Grady exclaimed, "I can't sense any!"

"This isn't going to be a heroic mission," Marco declared, "In and out. We were wrong to come here."

I nodded.

The hospital was highlighted through the transparent glass.

"Arrived. For your own safety, this hovercraft will leave in ten minutes."

The fighter planes hadn't arrived here yet.

"Let's go. Nine minutes to do this," Marco was leading this mission.

"If we die here," Grady muttered, "This is all your fault, Carlos."

"Agreed," Marco said as he opened the door.