Therin and Lumia hovered over a dense part of the rainforest.

“I thought you said there was a temple?” Lumia asked with confusion.

“There is,” he responded. “It’s an illusion. Would you mind approaching first?”

“Okay,” she said before moving forward in a flash of light. She suddenly rebounded, causing the rainforest to shimmer, the image of it glitching and breaking around where she’d hit the invisible barrier. “Ow!” she said, rubbing her head.

Therin moved forward, stopping by her side. “Ahh, a barrier as well. I thought it was only an illusion. And did that actually hurt you?”

“Noooo~” she said before summoning her singularities, glaring at the reforming image of the rainforest. “Should I destroy it?”

“No,” he responded. “We may as well try to be civil first. Follow me.” They floated to the ground, and he yelled, “Guardians of this temple, show yourselves so we may speak!”

Meanwhile, Lumia pulled out her phone and began playing something on it as she leaned against the barrier, melting away the illusion.

A few seconds later, someone suddenly appeared behind the barrier in a puff of smoke, a man with an impressively large beard and a cane wearing green robes. “Hmph. So you have found this temple. Who are you?”

“You can call me Therin.”

“And the girl?”

“Lumia.”

The old man blinked slowly. “For what purpose did you take your daughter here?”

“Oh, it was Take Your Child to Work day!” He rolled his eyes. “No, she’s here of necessity.”

“I see...” The old man ran a hand through his beard. “Then is she the child of legend?”

‘the what...’ Therin mouthed to himself. “Y-yes.”

“Is it not a little early for the prophecy to be fulfilled? Perhaps you should wait a few years for her to understand what is happening...” he glanced at her.

“Oh, that is, umm...” Therin followed his eyes to her phone. “An important task of hers. It’s a puzzle she must solve before long. Right, Lumia?”

She blinked, raising her head. “Oh, yeah, totes’ important puzzle.”

“Ahh, I see. I suppose nobody said the power couldn’t be obtained early. It would make a more dramatic story if the child of legend were taken here during a time of unrest, however...I won’t lie, this is more practical. Before I allow you in to take the test, however, would you show me the mark upon her shoulder?”

“Of course. Just one second. Lumia? could I speak to you for just a moment?”

“Hmm? Sure.”

They took a few steps back. “A mark...a mark...maybe he’s referring to...Lumia, you manipulate light, correct?”

“Sure?”

“Can you create a small illusion?”

After a moment of whispering to each other, they walked back. “Sorry for the holdup. Lumia, you can show him the mark now.”

She turned her back, then pulled down her shirt a little, revealing a small brown mark that looked like a goblet.

The old man narrowed his eyes at it while Lumia smirked and Therin nervously watched his expression.

“I see.” He stepped back. “And what were you two discussing just then?”

“We have had a number of people...umm...seeking her mark. Apparently, it has powers beyond my knowledge, so we must be careful.”

“Hmm...and....one last thing. Why...are you wrapped in bandages?”

“Well-”

“He’s just weird like that!” Lumia responded, interrupting him.

Therin sighed. “Why don’t we leave it at that?”

“Erm...sure. I see no reason to let you in.” The old man clicked the bottom of the staff against the ground. You may step forward.”

Lumia and Therin walked toward the man, and it wasn’t long before they saw the whole illusion completely dissipate as they stepped beyond the barrier.

Inside was an enormous temple shaped like a square goblet which appeared to be wearing away from ages of disrepair, enormous vines growing down it’s lip and rubble coating the ground, having fallen from the yellowish stone of the building.

“I apologize for the temple’s current state,” the old man said. “I have awaited the child of legend’s arrival for ages.”

They peacefully walked through the rainforest and eventually entered the clearing around the temple. “It is quite a beautiful sight to see such an intricate building in the center of a rainforest like this,” Therin genuinely said. “Will we be walking inside?”

“Yes. We can have lunch inside before we begin the young girl’s trial.”

“Ahh, good. The trek here was rather harsh.”

“I can tell,” the old man said, glancing at Therin, who certainly looked as though he had taken a beating, with much of his clothes and bandages burnt, along with his hair, which would have otherwise appeared quite silky. “Though the girl appears quite alright.”

“My clothes are magical,” she said before Therin could respond.

“Is that so?”

“Yep. They’re very comfy.”

“Good to see a child well taken care of.”

Therin let out a sigh of relief as they walked into a corridor of the temple.

The bottommost level of the temple was quite roomy. It seemed to serve as the old man’s home and hadn’t begun to deteriorate like the outside. In the main room, which was circular and large, Therin and Lumia sat in their chairs around a table while the old man cooked food elsewhere.

Therin shuffled through his jean’s pocket and pulled out his smartphone, then turned it to the camera app and looked around the room through the screen.

“What are you doing?” Lumia asked.

“My phone can detect magic.”

“Why do you need to do that?”

“Hmm...this entire area is filled with magic. I guess I’ll have to take the risk.” He moved to put away his phone, then reconsidered and pointed it at Lumia. On the screen, she appeared like a puddle of yellow, coursing with an immense amount of magic. Whereas the blue tint the temple glowed with had been marked with ‘0.70ppm’ by the phone, she was marked with ‘100,000.00ppm’ “Yellow?” he muttered to himself, needing no reminder of the girl’s redundantly immense power.

“Yellow?” she repeated with confusion.

“Nothing...”

“So what are we trying to get from this place?” she asked. “The old man seemed nice.”

“The Divine Goblet,” Therin said. “It is an ancient magical artifact that’s said to have imbued the water within with the power to kill even a god.”

“Oh, so like a knife but for gods?”

He glanced at the so-called ‘god’ by his side. “Yes...” he began with exasperation, “...like a knife but for gods. The gods in question aren’t quite like you, though.”

She tilted her head. “Why are they different?”

“There are many gods in this world who are immortal; incapable of dying.”

“Drade said that everyone can die. I doubt they’d be any different.”

“And maybe he’s right, in theory. In practice, not so true. Try as you may, the gods in question will fail to die. There are ways to seal or neutralize them, but most gods are, obviously, too strong to easily do that to.”

“Why do you need to kill a god, though?”

He scratched his chin. “I had first wanted to secure the power as a precaution...but I may be facing a god sooner than I expected. In fact, I may do so right after we finish this.”

“Feeling daring today?” Lumia said with a chuckle.

“You could say so? Anyhow, I wanted to check for any servailence magics active in this place, but it would be difficult to distinguish one from the rest of the magic, meaning that I have no other option than to simply hope we aren’t being watched.”

“Umm...okay? Why can’t I just blow this place up?”

“I can’t say for sure where The Divine Goblet is, but I doubt that blowing this place up wouldn’t doom it to be lost forever.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“So here’s our plan. Keep playing along, and if you get the chance, secure the goblet. Does that make sense?”

“Kay’ kay’, will do.”

“Good...”

Livia dashed through the streets of Changeton as lasers sliced toward her from behind. She swerved about as they did, evading the soldiers’ shots as best as she could. Although a few of the projectiles sliced into her body and limbs, it was easy enough for her to heal them before she so much as stumbled.

She leaped behind a hall then reloaded her gun. Along the mile she’d treaded as she ran through the streets, she’d left a number of soldiers knocked out on the ground. She had decapitated them with their own strange type of gun, which was adept at cutting through limbs, then simply regrew their heads, resulting in their body being forced to essentially restart like a slow computer.

For the people she’d shot, the side effects were many, and the trauma quite intense, but Livia really didn’t care.

She shot her laser gun blindly through the concrete of the building as she heard her pursuers approach, then as she heard a few yell out in agony, she stepped out and then shot the rest with her handgun, her aim practiced and easy.

It didn’t take them out, of course, but the impact cracked the glass of their masks and caused them to stumble, which gave her time to shoot their heads one by one with the laser, then regrow what she’d lobotomized.

“Not my fault you tracked me,” she said with a shrug as they writhed helplessly on the ground.

Livia walked down the street and climbed a mound of rubble before looking around from the vantage point. A black van was rushing toward her, chased by a number of soldiers strong enough to nearly keep up with its speed.

“Interesting...”

Saphi and Saina approached the lakeside. Under their boots was a small coat of water, which they used to slide down the asphalt.

“In here, Saphi,” Saina said, grabbing her daughter’s hand and jumping onto the sidewalk beside a storage unit.

Saphi returned the water to her orbiting ring. “How do we get in?” she asked as her mother stepped to the door of the unit and glanced around.

“Batman, we’re in the clear. Can we come in?”

“Alright,” a voice said through an invisible speaker. The unit’s metal door rolled upward, revealing an empty room.

Saina walked her daughter in, then the door closed.

Suddenly, they lurched as the ground beneath them began to descend with a reverberating, almost calming hum.

“Where are we?” Saphi asked curiously.

“Our ‘Batman’s ‘Batcave’.”

“I never said it was called a ‘Batcave’!” the voice argued. “I just call myself Batman to keep my identity a secret.”

“Well, I think it’s, as the kids say these says, ‘cringe’.”

“Says you. How old even are you?”

Saina shrugged, “Forty.”

“You look nine,” he said insultingly.

She frowned, then smirked. “What a polite young man. You and your compliments~”

“Whatever.”

A moment later, the elevator fell from the ceiling of a large, open cave lit by dim blue lights. As they passed the ceiling, the two saw the outline of a countless number of bats lining the ceiling, asleep.

The elevator slowly came to a stop at the bottom, and the two looked around. There was some furniture set around a table, like a living room, a kitchen farther away and not illuminated, a few doors set into the stone, and, of course, a control panel where someone sat.

Saina let go of Saphi’s hand as they entered, and her daughter pranced around the cave happily. Much to her surprise, the Batcave was quite homey, the air humid and chilly, and the stone paths quite well-paved to make it feel almost like a tourist attraction. Looking backward, there was also a small pond further down the cave, perhaps a well.

“A nice place you have here. Still a bat cave, though.”

Batman swiveled his chair and held out a remote, causing lights buried around the path to glow a bright blue. Although it illuminated the bats above, they didn’t seem to mind. “Of course, it’s a nice place, I live here. Why’d you come, anyway?” He stood from his seat and walked toward Saina.

As he exited the darkness, he grabbed then threw on a cape that had been set on the back of his chair. He was dressed warmly in black and blue pajamas. “Well,” Saina said, “I didn’t know where else to go. This is the emergency shelter, right?”

“I guess so. Was the school infiltrated?”

Saina shook her head. “No, but who knows what will happen if I go there. Your little cave seemed safer for Saphi and me. Is this place child-proof, by the way?”

“Makes enough sense. She should be fine to wander around as long as she doesn’t go into the weapons room.”

“Ooh, weapons~ Nonleathal or what?”

“A mix. I’m more of a tech guy, anyway.”

“Right, you do servailence. So then, do you mind informing me on our current predicament?”

“It’s a lot worse than you think,” he assured her as he led her to the living room, then sat on a chair.

She sat opposite him. “What do you mean?”

Batman pressed a button on his remote and leaned forward. “Psi, please run program Hologram: place: Changeton subject: chess.”

Suddenly, a blue hologram of the city appeared on the table, reflecting the broken and destroyed state of the area. A number of important objects and people were pointed out with floating arrows, like upside-down pyramids.

“Woaaaah, a hologram!” Saphi said, running up to it the moment she saw it and leaning on the coffee table.

“Yeah. It’s pretty cool,” Batman said, walking up beside her. He began pointing out each piece on the board. “Now, we’re completely swamped right now. The Friends are really stretched thin, and the only reason Changeton hasn’t fallen already is that Therin hasn’t gotten serious.”

“Therin?”

“He’s the guy running this war. I don’t know what he wants yet, but he also had a lieutenant. I don’t know her name, but she can apparently teleport around at will. I don’t know where either of them is, so their pieces are just in the corner over there.” He pointed to a corner where a number of models were sitting, unused. “There are a number of ‘druids’ who have been using nature magic to attack Therin’s supersoldiers, and they’re mostly cooped up to the southeast side of the city.”

“His supersoldiers?”

“Yeah, I’ll get to them. The Enchanter’s Guild is also apparently fighting on their own turf if you remember them from a few days ago...”

“The guys who attacked the Schoolers?”

“Yup. They set up an anti-magic dome around themselves, so Therin’s forces have begun surrounding them for a siege. There is also the archdruid of Changeton Park, who began fighting a transformer and mech not long ago...”

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“He’s winning pretty handily. I guess nature beats tech. Then there is a small resistance group of lizard people on the west shore...and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t been able to spot most of the groups fighting back, but there’s evidence of them all around.”

“Gotcha’.”

“Uffield is fighting that giant water monster-”

“Great Water Elemental. It’s The Great- We can just call it the water wlemental.”

“Hmm...that. She’s fighting that. She should be winning, so we don’t need to worry...but even once she does win, the water elementals have begun spreading across the city, breaking down buildings and all. Then there are superpowered soldiers, somewhere in the realm of two hundred of them. I haven’t learned the limit of their powers, but they’re able to throw cars with some difficulty and jump across buildings easily.”

“Seriously? Two-hundred?”

“Yep. It’s pretty crazy. They aren’t the problem, though. He’s mostly used them as a rescue crew to keep people out of the city rather than actual combat troops. But they really aren’t the problem.”

“If they aren’t, who is?”

He began counting on his finger as he spoke. “First, he has an enormous warship in the sky, as well as a fleet of smaller ones, second, I think that he’s got more of those transformers available...and third, weird goop monsters have been appearing around the city, eating the rubble away.”

“I saw those. The goop wasn’t a big problem...K-kinda. We did nearly die to it.”

“Well, it’s those airships that I’m afraid of. I don’t know anything about them besides that they’re there, somewhere, plus I’m sure that they’re large enough to house far more troops than we’ve already seen.” Batman shrugged. “But that’s about all I know.”

“Saphi! Over here.”

Saphi ran back from the pool of water on the other side of the room with a trail of water following her. “Yeah?”

Saina glanced between her and Batman. “Since we know all of that...do you want to help me bring the rest of The Friends weapons? They should be congregating at the school...”

“Do I have to?” Batman asked with a groan. “I’d rather stay in here.”

“I dunno, Drade’d be mad if you abandoned us.”

“Fine. Follow me to the weapons room.”

-------------------------

Drade sat on the ground of a dark space, his eyes closed. In front of him, Luuko sat, her eyes downcast.

He raised his.

“Luuko?”

She didn’t move.

“Luuko...” Drade’s seldom-changing expression softened. “Please speak to me,” he pleaded.

...

“Why?” Her eyes shifted away from him. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t help you right now. All I’ll do is distract you.”

“I didn’t...I didn’t ever expect you to help me,” he responded. “I don’t mind if you distract me.” He looked down. “I don’t mind at all.”

“You should. I want to go to sleep.”

“Then I’ll stay asleep.”

“No, don’t! What are you saying? People need you out there!”

He gritted his teeth in anger. “People need me in here.”

“It’s not even comparable! What...what are you talking about...?”

“Luuko...” Drade sighed. “You’re my friend. I can’t ignore you...or I don’t want to ignore you.”

“Well- Well, you can’t help me!” She turned her head away. “So just go to someone else.”

Drade shook his head. “There has got to be some way I can. I don’t need you to suddenly be fine...or to tell me everything, or even to tell me why you’re so distressed. Just say the word and-”

She clenched her hands. “What...what is it like, Drade? To be your own person? To have so many people who care for you?”

“I don’t know. Why did you ask?”

“I-I’m not like you. I don’t have character. I don’t have any grit, I’m so pathetic that I’d rather stay in bed instead of going out with friends, and even though I have some amazing power to possess people, I can’t use my talent to benefit anyone but myself. Then you...there’s hardly anything special about you, but you go so far out of your way to help people, to make the world a better place with every second you live...I-I don’t get how you do it. Or is it just torture to be like that? Am I...am I just...” she shook her head, then raised it to meet Drade’s eyes with a somber expression. “...complaining about things that aren’t problems?”

Drade averted his eyes in thought. “I don’t like it. It can be very hard, and I wish my life was...easier to live. But it isn’t all bad. It may sound strange coming from me, but I do like to meet new people. I just don’t find the time to, umm...” He shrugged, returning his gaze to hers. “...smell the roses?”

“I don’t...” Luuko shook her head, his response feeling more genuine than she had felt Drade be in quite a long time. “I don’t really understand. That doesn’t answer my question.”

Drade blinked, then outstretched his arms. “Then would it be easier if I just showed you?”

She blinked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

He said nothing, his face impassive as he continued to hold out his arms.

“D-Drade? I-I’m like, actually confused.”

“We don’t have much time, sorry. Do you want to take a risk to understand me better?”

“A risk?”

“I thought that maybe it would help if we...fused, I guess?” he said, completely unsure of what he was doing as he invited Luuko’s soul into his own.

She clasped her hands in front of her chest, anxious. “I guess...I can try. Are you sure that’s fine?”

“Absolutely.”

Luuko shuffled forward until her knees nearly touched his, then leaned forward and shakily closed her eyes and hugged him.

Onei searched Drade’s coat pockets as he tried to sleep and quickly pulled a knife from out of one. She then tore into her own shirt sleeve and cut out a strip of cloth. Truth was, she had no idea how to bandage wounds and even less idea of how to bandage them with a shirt, let alone a wound on a hand.

Also, while she appreciated the thought behind Drade pulling her onto his lap, in practice he had dripped his blood onto her shirt, which could of course be remedied with some good, old-fashioned magic shoplifting, but was mildly annoying and disturbing nonetheless, especially with how the heat of his blood soaked on her skin. It was forgivable, though, because it was Drade, and he was distracted~

Or something like that.

Anyway, he fell asleep, and by the time she was finished, he woke back up.

His eyes fell onto Onei. “H-hey...” she said quietly with a small smile, waving from her hunched position on the seat beside him.

His lips formed into an awkward, timid, but strangely familiar smile. “Hey.”

“Oh, you’re back, Luuko?” she asked.

“Yes and no,” she...s-someone responded. “Have you ever watched an anime called, uhh...I think it’s called Dragon Ball Z?”

Onei raised an eyebrow. “Of course I have. That’s where I got the ‘Drauko’ naming convention from. Duh. Kinda, I mean, I guess it’s not exactly unique to-”

“Well, anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that this is kinda like that...fusing thing? You know, where they do a funny dance and then bloop into each other?” Drauko shrugged. “Like that.”

“Ohh, I see. So you’re like- Wait, that’s so c-”

“Who’s that?” Datai suddenly said from the front.

Their eyes turned to someone by the side of the road, standing next to a pile of rubble with their thumb raised.

“Is that...stop for her!” Drauko said.

“Alright...” Datai responded, slowing the car down and lowering the window beside Onei.

Drauko suddenly leaned over Onei, excitedly poking their head out the window as a smile graced their face.

Green-dyed hair, ripped and torn clothes but no blemishes, perfect skin but practically rippling muscles, and a passionate, familiar smile below eyes that reflected an ever-reliable intelligence deep within their guardless posture.

“Livia!” Drauko said, a relaxed smirk raising on their lips.

As she saw them, Livia blinked. “Drade? Drade!” She then leaped at them and pulled their face into her chest. “It’s been so long!”

“Please let go and let me hug you like a normal person...”

She pushed him away and flung open the door. Her eyes then briefly flicked about the street in a barely-perceptible check for danger before she lunged over Onei to hug Drauko. “I didn’t expect to see you here!”

“I could say the same.”

“But...uhh...” She leaned back a bit. “You’re definitely a bit...different. What’s with all that ‘expressiveness’ and ‘excitement’ and ‘surprise’? you have going on there?” she circled the outline of his face with a finger.

“Long story short, I just fused with someone, and you can call me Drauko for now.”

“Umm...okay.” Her eyes glanced at his hand. “Want that patched up?”

“Please, by...C- I mean by Lumia please do, Onei did a bad job bandaging it.” So that’s why Drade was coughing when they said Chaos...that’s so whack I’m almost not surprised. It wasn’t clear to Drauko how their own knowledge worked, but they felt like they were learning more by just being together.

Livia waved her hand, then slipped the bandage off their hand. “Bad is an understatement, whoever this Onei person is did a shit job at it.”

Onei unamusedly stared at the seat in front of her. “And suddenly, I go from the second to third wheel.”

Drauko scuffed her hair. “Nah, you’re still our number two~”

“I have a lot of mixed feelings about this...”

“Mind if I join you? Also, duck, Onei.”

“Huh?” Onei tilted her head in confusion, trying to process what had been said before a laser suddenly sliced through her head, leaving a thin hole through it. Drauko shoved her head down a moment too late, a bit panicked.

“I told you so,” Livia said as Onei began to desperately groan despite the thin hole in her head, incapable of speech.

Sara and Felix shuffled backward in panic as they tried to understand what had just happened, then yelled nearly in tandem. “Oh shit, oh no- nonono!” Felix’s eyes grew wide as he saw Onei’s head fall forward.

“Fuck!” Datai yelled, not quite knowing what had happened. “Get in or get gone, girl! If we’re being shot at, we need to get going

It wasn’t long before the hole repaired itself, and Onei’s head shot back up. “What was that!?” she asked with fear before looking down at Livia, who had slipped onto Drauko’s lap. “And why is she suddenly trying to gap me as a love interest!? We only have room for one chaotic extrovert-” The car suddenly lurched forward in a rush, causing her to falter, “...in this train!”

Livia shook her head. “No, you misunderstand, I’m just the flirty thot-” Drauko shoved her down onto Tabitha, then a laser shot where her head had been. “Ooh~ That would’ve killed me on the spot. Nice save, Mr.Plot Armor.”

“I wonder if there’s a gender-neutral prefix...” Drauko said with curiosity.

“Aaanyway, if you’re trying to get Drade to like you, good luck with that.”

“And since when were you the ‘flirty thot’ archetype?” Drauko asked. “I don’t remember you being like that.”

She pointed a thumb back at Drauko as she settled further into their lap. “Don’t listen to him...them. Drade’s a dunderhead.”

Onei sent her a strange expression. “A what?”

“An oblivious fool.”

“A what?” Onei continued.

“A harem protagonist.”

“Okay, now I’m actually conf-”

“Can someone explain why you’re alive?!” Felix asked.

“I can heal people, see?” Livia grabbed Drauko’s wrist and flapped it about, revealing the wound had healed over.

“You can heal brains?!”

“Yep. You’d be surprised how many people are going to wake up to their decapitated heads in front of themselves. Pretty metal, right?”

“Metal?! I’m traumatized!” Onei half-joked.

She shrugged. “Oof.”

In the front, Datai’s eyes widened as he drifted through a corner, trying to evade the sniper’s shots from on high, only to yell as he saw a kid standing in his way. “Oh shit, what’s that kid d-”

Something metallic clicked against itself, then, with a crunch, the car was flipped from the front to its back, sent crashing onto itself before Datai’s ring could reverse its momentum.

...

Drauko’s consciousness flickered for a moment as the roof crumbled from its own weight.

“Fuck, man...” a voice said. “I didn’t want to do that to them...”

They pulled themselves out of the car, scraping at the concrete and kicking their bleeding legs on whatever they could to climb onto the open stone.

They put a foot on the concrete, then raised themselves up, ignoring a shard of of glass as it fell from their cheek.

A chain clinked together, coiling up. Its holder narrowed his eyes, though a certain softness remained, even as he met Drauko’s eyes.

They sighed, trying to ignore the pain of their scraped and bleeding arm, legs, and face. “Kaleb...”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing personal, man. Come nicely, or I’ll have to be mean. Simple as that.”

Therin's Notes on the Eldritch:

{Then there is the second stage of Eldritch Development. This stage of development is when an Eldritch entity, now armed with the basic needs to grow beyond their nature, begins to gain ambition and an interest in their own growth. This stage of development is about gaining an understanding of meaning beyond simply knowledge. I have grappled with my 'simple proof' for many years, but I still feel as though I don't understand it as fundamentally as I could. Just what does it mean, that I can create meaning? It's difficult to understand, even after years of thought.

Unfortunately, I know of no other Eldritch beings who have grown past this stage, so I, unfortunately, cannot explain how to do so. However, that also means that understanding this stage is much more important than understanding the third, which so few people may ever achieve.

Those in the second stage of their growth will begin to derive a much greater feeling of fulfillment of their life. They begin to see their mistakes, to understand just what makes them sad or happy, to understand how their born purpose in life is something that they have the power to interpret. I long to find more peers moving through this stage. Unfortunately, we are so far and few between and difficult to pick out that I'm afraid I may find no others besides my dear friend, Gau. It would be fascinating to learn of their own interpretation of this stage.}