My Audio Books Chapter 1428 Vvv

Chapter 29

S.R.D.

Search, Rescue, and Destroy, those are my orders ranked in their order of importance. A tall order given that my suspicion is that anyone who is still alive at this point is likely only alive due to one purpose, to be a living incubator. A quick scan around shows that most of the city is burnt to ash. Only burnt corpses and monster parts line the streets.

Now one might wonder why I don't have a weapon. I'd like to think that this is due to people taking my briefing on the standard pulsing rifles used by most militaries in the universe as being superfluous against the largely gelatinous space faring monsters. The idea that a kinetic or energy burst round could do much of anything to these creatures is a crock.

The only time such rounds would be beneficial against the Scourge would be in space. The idea being for the split second the space resistant outer shell of their skin was removed by a blast, the resulting tension on their skin might be enough to cause decompression. Such shots were rare of course, as the beasts heal almost instantly and once, they suspect a strike they circulate their fluids within their body to prevent just such an action. They truly are an impressive killing machine.

Now you take that same creature, with the same biological processes that can heal and react to bursts and holes easily and you place them on the surface of a planet. Well, you have a monster that can gelatinously bypass most straight forward attacks. Men with katanas would be more useful in a fight. That said if you went against such a creature with a katana and expected to win, you are stupid. In the second you split one in half, both halves would have cognizant thought, if only for a second. That would mean you would now have to watch out for attacks from two different creatures, creatures that no longer cared about dying. Granted you would kill them, but at what cost.

No, best form of attack is flame thrower. By flame thrower I of course mean an amazingly handsome Pyrokinetic Psionic, or your run of the mill meh Fire aspect Mage. In this case I will not argue too much about which one would be better, especially when my winning the argument generally means I get sent to the front of the line to prove my words. Not that my having to prove a cocky statement has anything to do with why I am here now. It was just a coincidental statement I made, that coincided with several other things to get me here.

Flutter, thud, clap.

A body lands behind me. I don't have to turn around to see that it is my Endarian handler. I suspected she was a bit more than just a liaison by the way she tried to chat me up, on the way here.

Drag, scuffle.

She is in the process of trying to pull her parachute away when I light it on fire.

Whoom.

The flames burn until every inch of the chute itself is gone, leaving only a few nylon straps. I would have expected the Endarians to have their own version of these, something more artistic. But apparently Endarians never developed the human need for jumping out of perfectly good airplanes as a fun way to bypass waiting in transit terminals. As such they never developed their own version of the parachutes and even now must outsource from human corporations.

She stares up at me with first shock, then a calculating gaze washes over her. To my defense I did buffer her with my Air element as well to keep most of the heat away from her. Not that she likely cared. Our eyes lock for a second, as I almost expect her to snap at me for being reckless. Instead, she surprises me when she nods her head.

"Thank you." She says, still speaking in Endarian. Then she manages to take off the rest of her harness as well. From there we begin making our way. She has her phase rifle drawn at the low ready. Then looks at me and does something that almost makes me laugh.

"Would you like my phase pistol?" She asks, reaching down to the clearly visible weapon that is strapped to her leg.

"HAHAHA!" I begin laughing right there. She is too cute. "Oh, that is a good one. Want me to get some rocks and make it really angry?" I ask.

"Rocks?"

"Yeah, you know, to throw. Probably be just as effective against these monsters." I state.

Truth be told I have already found, identified, and eliminated a squad of the monsters while waiting. She is all hilarious, crouched over trying to duck and cover. I guess in a way it makes sense, she doesn't know where the little buggers are. As for me, I can feel their minds encroaching in a sphere around me. The moment they get close squish, I break their minds like little grapes. This whole thing is almost too easy, laughably so.

We turn the street corner, me out in the middle of the street, her pressed hard against the corner building for cover. As we turn the corner, we see bodies. The remains of Endarians who were mowed down, likely when the conflict first began. Then the number of bodies I killed from the other side of the street.

My handler just looks at them, a cute, if confused look comes to her face as she looks at the dead monsters. Who look like they just randomly passed out in the streets.

"What? What could have done this?" She asks me incredulously.

I look at her like she is stupid. My hands are still in my pockets as I set the bodies on fire. Making sure to burst their secondary sacs. I also burn the bodies of the Endarian citizens, as a protective measure.

I do all this without breaking stride and never going faster than my leisurely stroll down the road. I could do this at a lot faster pace, but that would get tiring. I will need food; food is my only true weakness at this point. Everything else I can overcome with my own Magical and Psionic affinities. But food, the one true bane of my existence. I have enough ration bars to last a day. Now a quick rule of thumb, ration bars are terrible. Ration bars are even worse when they are made for another space faring races palette in mind. Thus, I will eat these Endarian rations only as a last resort. I make a mental note to try to secure a supply of the bars.

"How can you just be so calm?" The liaison asks after a few minutes of silence. We are past the city center where I burned both Scourge and dead Endarian corpses alike.

Looking at her I just raise an eyebrow and continue walking. It is a human gesture, but one that I try to pull off with contempt. My attempt apparently succeeds when she is quiet for a bit. This is good, as it gives me time to focus my mind and find the different monsters around us.

Muffled minds.

I feel the faintest traces of muffled minds tingling my senses. It is a somewhat familiar feeling, though far cruder than what I was previously exposed to. These minds feel like the minds that were hidden by camouflaging matrices when I played for Mel in the fields.

In an instant I realize I have likely passed dozens of Endarians who have been huddling in fear all this time.

"What is it?" She asks, I should really ask her name at some point. I'm pretty sure she told it to me at least three times, but I was so frustrated at the time of meeting her that I really didn't care. Shaking my head on not being able to remember her name. It began with an 'R'? Never mind, I think to myself as I focus on the next stage of my task.

"I can feel a few minds, they are trying to hide under some type of cloaking field." I speak. I remember the small portable versions the Endarians used in the field, such structures could be set up nearly anywhere.

"Oh, you likely mean defensive shields. We must be in a military control section." She says, looking around. "To operate one of those would require a lot of energy. Which means we are looking for a building that is mostly intact, with individual power supplies." She says scanning the area. Then her eyes stop on a large building that is roughly the size of a fifteen-story high rise. The other much larger buildings next to the one she pointed out have all been toppled or destroyed in some way. Yet, she is correct, if we are going by the availability of resources, and access to light, what their species uses as a primary power source, that building would be a perfect candidate.

"Come on." She says, as she takes off in a mad sprint forward. Within a few steps she is at full speed and well past me. I noticed that while we were going through the city, she was more than fine with me taking point this entire trip. That is why I don't open my mouth about the trap she is walking into.

See I wasn't apparently the only person to notice the barrier. I could tell that a more than a few Scourge were also within the barrier. The only reason I didn't destroy every mind was because I couldn't be certain whether the scourge had found the survivors or not. There was a greater than fifty percent chance that I would have to kill everyone here regardless, but I have been known to be wrong on occasion. As such I decided to look first, and fire kills shots second, this time.

Panting.

She is huffing so loudly, that I'm surprised she hasn't drawn the attention of the scourge on the other side of the illusionary barrier already. As she gets to the spot where my mental perception of minds starts to become fuzzy, she waits.

"Come on!" She insists and waves a hand.

Meanwhile I continue my slow plodding pace like an old serial killing monster. Funny that this image comes to mind, as I really see the parallels to what I have become in this world. In fact, I almost wonder if someone was filming this, would they see me as stalking this crazy liaison woman who darts headfirst into danger? Would they think that I was the cause for her fear, the reason why she would rather dart into unknown danger than be near me? I think all this, as a slight smirk forms on my lips. Not for the first time this life I think, I really am becoming the villain.

Finally, I am within a few dozen paces of the liaison and the barrier. That is good enough for her, as she nods to herself before darting in.

"Oh Gods!" She screams as she backpedals and turns to look at me. Within a second, she is darting forward towards me. Well not towards me exactly, but she is trying to get around me. Trying to use me as a human shield. One word comes to mind as I see the act and shake my head at her. Racist. Always must put the human in danger first.

She does a weird stumble, crawl as she falls to the ground and then tries to huddle up into a tight ball behind me. Apparently, something about walking down the street like a turn of the millennium killer inspired confidence in her? I don't quite know.

All I know is that there are a dozen scourge minds coming out from the barrier. The minute they appear to my senses I cut them down.

"Ccc…" She stammers from behind me.

I turn to look at her, when she points back the way she came and finally manages to scream out "caster."

I turn to see, that she is correct. There is a caster. Or at least the scourge equivalent of a caster.

Once again, I see glowing green energy pulsing before me. I guess this has something to do with their energy source. Or maybe the way the implement their powers. Regardless I see the energy and then on reflex that has been practiced and honed over countless lifetimes I snatch the power. In a second, I lock the power in place.

The caster scourge pauses as it looks at the spell that has suddenly been pulled into the physical world.

"What the?" The Liaison asks from behind me.

I just keep my focus forward as I intend to use the monster as a magical grenade of sorts. I change the targeting rune to be the immediate area around it. Then I open up the energy flow to allow for the monster's full energy to be drained into this one spell.

"GHAHAHA!" The monster screams and tries to rip itself free of the spell that is no longer under its control. The spell glows a bright green, then when there is no more residual green energy left in the monster. The monster collapses to the ground, at which point I release the spell.

BOOM!

The ground breaks apart. I must turn my head and cover my eyes due to how intense the bright green glow is from the monster.

Rumble.

The ground shakes and vibrates.

Once everything is settled, I stop to look forward, and see that the monster and its kin that had swarmed with it are now little more than ash. Ash with little green fragments of demonic energy attached to it. This is not the wholesome green of nature. This is more the dark putrid green one would expect to see as part of nuclear waste being used to empower sludge.

Phwoom.

A sound of an electrical generator going down can be heard. Then in a matter of seconds the protective barrier that had been erected drops, revealing dozens of Endarians who are huddled into different rooms of the building. A quick glance shows that there are still hundreds of Scourges on the grounds as well, though they too now seem to be able to see once more. As they shake their heads as they find the new targets and begin to move forward.

"Oops." I say, as I continue to stroll forward. Though now that I both have clear line of sight and can clearly distinguish the two mental signatures, those of the Endarians and those belonging to the Scourge easily, I begin mowing down the monsters like they were nothing.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

The minds of the monsters' pop, a few are mere feet away from the Endarians who are still attempting to hide in the same spot, despite their spot being revealed. This is like trying to hide under the blanket, only to have the blanket ripped out from over top of you and still trying to hide. I shake my head at the sight.

Behind me, I can hear the liaison rising to her feet.

I continue my pace forward to the building with Endarian civilians who can still be saved. As I do, I have one thought come to mind. I wonder if they have any food in this building?

The 13th Loop [A Progression, GameLit, Sci-Fi Adventure]

Lykanthropy

Interlude III Dr. Charleston's Office.

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Interlude III

Dr. Charleston's Office.

"Are you sure you are okay to go in by yourself?" Mave asked, for the seventh time this morning. She was worried and rightfully so. As far as she was concerned a person who was the equivalent of her daughter was about to go talk about a particularly difficult topic with someone who was a complete stranger.

Mel for her part looked sad but reserved. With a silent but proud nod she spoke to her resolve on this matter. Seeing the look caused a wave of pride and nervous tension to rise in Mave's chest.

Click.

The sound of a wooden door opening echoed nicely in the open corridors. With the sound a young man, with smooth rugged features that spoke of years of easy living strode out. With hungry lustful eyes he scanned the hallway then turned his predatory gaze upon Mel.

Instantly protective instincts arose within Mave. She barely noticed the rise of electricity on the base of her neck to show that she had subconsciously gathered power at the sudden act.

"Why hellooo." The man who was clearly Kyle's older brother cooed in a most annoying manner.

"Um. Hi?" Mel said, her hand twitching to push a strand of hair behind her ear. It was a nervous tick and one that drove all the boys crazy. This lecher was apparently no different as his eyes ate in the gesture like it was an all you can eat buffet.

"You must be Mel, my brother's girlfriend. He's told me so much about you." The lecherous brother lied convincingly.

"Oh, he did? I thought you two weren't getting along?" Mel said, sounding flustered.

"Oh, we are brothers. We are bound to have a minor spat from time to time." He spoke. The more he spoke, the more the hair on the nape of Mave's neck rose in alarm. This man was clearly lying to her. Worse he was using so many different mind reading powers on her it was almost an illegal intrusion into her mind. Mave was about to say something, when she was saved by the good doctor.

"Next?" Dr. Charleston said.

"Oh, that's me." Mel said, smiling in a nervous way before saying "it was nice meeting you?"

"Chet." Chet said, holding out his hand. A hand that practically glowed with joyous powers and intent. Again, nothing wrong with spreading joy, though his general use of mind powers caused Mave to question some of his actions. Seeing this, Mave made a mental note to investigate his background a little more.

Fortunately, Mave didn't need to step in, as Mel just smiled nervously and ducked into the room before she had to touch the offered glowing hand.

"Oh hi, I didn't see you there." Chet said, holding up his still glowing hand as he turned his eyes on Mave.

"No, you wouldn't." Mave said coldly as she just stared at the offered hand.

Chet continued to hold out his hand for a second or two more, before just lowering the hand and leaving Dr. Charleston's office quickly.

***

Melissa entered the office of Doctor Thurston Charleston, immediately upon entering she made a line to the comfy chair where she reclined and relaxed. Once in the reclined position Dr. Charleston began his normal speech.

"Thank you for coming here today. You have been asked to come in to speak about any lingering grief you might be suffering from the loss of Cadet Kyle Goldman. This is just a warning, but protective wards are being implemented now to protect the privacy and integrity of our conversation. Anything we say after these wards go up will be strictly protected by both doctor-client confidentiality, along with the strongest anti-scrying and detection wards available."

Whoom.

A slight buzzing sound could be heard as the privacy wards came on and with one unifying tone, they began blocking out any interfering magical or electrical signals. Only once both were relatively certain that the wards were in place and that enough time had passed for any residual magical connections to be frayed apart did the two begin.

"I didn't realize they also authorized you to take part in this experiment. Though given the subjects recent attachment to you, I can understand. Any particular reason why you have taken on the lead romantic interest?" Dr. Charleston said, and instantly dropped his persona as a good psychiatrist and instantly delved into his role as project lead.

"I was authorized to play a minor character. Initially I was established to keep eyes on Mave. But then my role got compromised on the first day." Mel began giving her rundown of events.

"Explain to me your current level of interest in the boy? He always seems conflicted with your level of involvement with him, constantly seeking guidance and advice. Now seeing that it is you, your actions do make more sense. Though you are playing a poor version of the role you have taken on, explain."

Hearing that Mel, or the being assigned to play the role of Mel nodded before answering. "I originally began as a confidence booster, or at least that was my intended role or purpose. I meant to increase confidence so the subject would be willing to try other relationships."

Hearing this Dr. Charleston nodded. "So what about the brother? I saw he made initial contact in the hallway. What are your intentions with him?"

"I intend to take the fall. We know the brother only goes after the primary love interest. Given his current interest it is certain he will make a move. Oh and Mave already seems to have her doubts about him."

"So you are the bait?"

Mel nodded. "I am the bait."

Dr. Charleston paused for a moment then looked at Mel. "What are your opinions of the subject? Have you fallen for him?"

Mel paused. "I don't believe so."

Dr. Charleston paused at that admission. "This is a dangerous game you are playing. If you are going to end things, then you need to end them crisply. The most obvious way is when the brother makes his move." There is a slight pause. "Do you intend to force the move to happen while the subject is away? Or do you have an alternate goal in mind?"

"I intend to let it happen naturally. I will use the previous scripts to let Chet make his moves. Then either Mave will notice and act on her own. Or the subject will come back to find the brother up to his old tricks. I am told he already found out about his brother from the other universe."

"Yes, that was a fortunate turn of events." Dr. Charleston said with a hint of undertones to his words.

"You don't think it was all coincidental?" Mel asked.

Shaking his head. "No, it felt too orchestrated. As if a divinely inspired coincidence were at play."

Mel nodded. "So you think there is another player?"

Scoffing.

"At least one, likely another team entirely." Dr. Charleston states.

"So what should we do?"

"Continue to play our parts. Now that we have chosen to stay on as our current roles, our ability to influence events are limited."

"And what about the alternate universe?"

"What about it? So long as the subject comes back alive and mostly intact, we are fine. With you taking the first attack from the brother, the relationship angle should be salvageable."

"You don't think the subject has ruined the relationship with his true love?"

"Oh it is damaged and strained, but nothing that can't be handled. She has come into consult with me about the subject already."

Hearing that a strange confluence of emotions washed over Mel's face, but then ended quickly.

"I guess I have one last question." Mel said.

Dr. Charleston raised an inquisitive eyebrow, as if to say go on.

"The Endarian liaison who is with the subject even now in the alternate universe. Is she an operative?"

"Who can say for certain? But I doubt it."

"Doesn't it feel a little too coincidental for her to be there?"

Hearing this Dr. Charleston nodded. "We are in strange times."

"Are you certain there can't be another regression loop memory?"

Dr. Charleston shook his head. "No, each time we give more information, the Scourge are allowed to get that much more powerful. No if it happened again I might have to do more than just a few memory wipes to the subject…" He trailed off not wanting to finish that comment.

Mel, or the being playing the role of Mel nodded in agreement. Finally, after a moment of silent contemplation.

"So, we are in agreement then. I will lure out the brother, while you will prepare for the subject's inevitable return?"

"Yes."

That one word would begin a course of events whose conclusions would soon be unavoidable. Both hoped that it would be enough, while not tipping their hands too much about their true identities, nor their true intentions.

A NOTE FROM LYKANTHROPY

As promised. For this story having over one THOUSAND followers, here is the first of ten chapters that will be released this week.

Thank you all so much, and lets hope we can keep this story growing to two-thousand.

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The 13th Loop [A Progression, GameLit, Sci-Fi Adventure]

Lykanthropy

Chapter 30 In the Garden of Life

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Chapter 30

In the Garden of Life

I enter the building, the liaison 'R' something. Probably not Ruby, even to Endarians that is likely a stripper name. No, she has some stupid name. Her tactical vest bulges under her form, but it is clear she is prepared for war. She also doesn't seem as pressed by me to go out and find the food pantry of this place.

"Why are you going there?"

"Food."

"Food?"

"Well food, and to get the people that are hidden in the pantry."

"People? There are no people here, well none aside from yourself."

I roll my eyes at the slip of the tongue. "Sorry, Endaarrrians." I say, making sure to roll my 'arrs' in the word.

"Are there survivors?"

"Only one way to find out." I say, as I enter the pantry and head for a door that I know is not filled with Endarians. Instead, I find more pastry bar type rations. Seeing the ration bars, I shake my head in annoyance. Of course, I would find more of these. I think to myself. But beggars can't be choosy, and I know I will need all the food I can, even if they are inedible Endarian ration bars. Bars that seem to turn to glue in your stomach if exposed to the sun first.

"Oh, granola mint." The Liaison says, her voice surprisingly excited by the odd tastes that were clearly exported from humans and repackaged in this monstrosity of a survival bar.

Hearing that I just hand it to her, knowing that she would clearly get more enjoyment from that bar than I could.

Seeing the first one she reaches past me and starts grabbing at the pile of ration bars. It was clear that this facility was meant to house and keep people in here for a while. Their surplus of ration bars proves that. "Ginger oats? Root beer wheat? So many great flavors. No wonder you came here first." She says as she begins desperately stuffing the awful sounding bars in her uniform pockets.

The worst part is, I can read the labels from where I'm standing, she is not lying. They literally say everything she is quoting. Hearing the choices, I close my eyes and give up. "You're fucking with me, right?" I ask, as I let go of the bars that were still in my hands. I am about to reach into my pockets to remove the bars from my pockets, bars I know have the same-colored wrapping as the ones she greedily read off the ingredients.

"Oh, can I have those?" She asks pointing out the two packets of root beer wheat that I left on the counter.

"Yeah, take them. Oh, by the way what is our true purpose for being here?" I ask.

"Our purpose?" She asks with her mouth full of something. I turn to look at her, only to gag at the over pungent smell of root beer that is foaming in her mouth, while she tries to talk around a mouthful of the wheaty goodness. The sight makes me want to hurl right then and there. It is at times like these that I realize just how odd Endarians truly are.

"Yes, is it to save some of the scientists, or is this a research facility of some kind? Clearly you wanted this building to be saved, otherwise you would have just destroyed the entire city." I say calmly and clearly.

She has a complex look cross her face.

"The look on your face says I am close, and that you are about to feed me a lot of bullshit. So why don't we cut the crap here. You know just as well as I that the two of us, as powerful as we might be nothing but ointment for a particularly ripe boil that needs to be lanced. The question comes, why the ointment and not the lancing? Clearly something is in this city that needs to be saved. Something that needs to be saved despite what it might cost in lives. Also realize that every second we waste here, while you chipmunk your way through these ration bars is another dozen people who could be saved. I ask again, what is our purpose here?"

She took that exact moment to cram the rest of the ration bar down her throat, so it was clear she didn't want to talk. This was an action she soon regretted as she started choking almost immediately on the flavors and foam. I just shake my head, then with Telekinesis I open the cupboards where the Endarians are hiding.

"Look clearly, we aren't here for you. We are about to leave this place, but if you run quickly, you might be able to follow our trail of dead Scourge we killed to get here." I say to the people who are all staring at me with wide eyed confusion and panic.

"Well lead on chipmunk." I say to my liaison who only choked more heavily on the chunks of glue-wheat products she had eaten.

As for me I force a bit of one down, but only at extreme protests from my stomach and tastebuds. I nearly vomit at the taste, but I manage to keep some of the bar down.

"Ittts gooodd." She manages to get out around a mouthful of gluey paste.

After a few paces she walks out in front. Only once we are a few levels down and there are no signs of other survivors or Scourge does she take a breath and mentally go through a look like she is going to entrust me with the most precious secrets of this world.

"You know about the world tree?" She asks.

I groan, as this is the stupidest legend the Endarians always spew forth. "Yeah, I've heard the legends. About the great tree that spawned all life on your planet. Proving you all are a little nutty." I quip.

She looks at me like I just told her the most racially insensitive joke that she has heard her entire life. Thinking about it, the look is probably well warranted, not my best work. Technically it is not even my work, I just stole it from someone else who wanted to perpetuate the racial stereotype.

"Well, the tree exists, and we have built protections upon protections around the tree. We knew that if we left the tree to grow in the open others would target it as an act of defiance or war. So, we decided to build our greatest city around the tree. Letting the tree's base become the ground level for our civilization. Our greatest city Endar, is the city built as a layer of protection around the great tree. The only problem, our tree is dying. Well, it was dying before the Prolaxians, or scourge of the soul, came…" She says more, but my mind catches on that tidbit of information

Scourge of the Soul, that's right. That's what Prolaxian means in Endarian and why the Endarians always had such a stupid name for the Scourge. They were calling them scourge as well, but only in their super flowery language. Shaking my head at my oversight I realize I am missing something. Oh right, she's talking.

"…you should feel honored. You are the first non-Endarian to ever be told about this." She speaks. Then her eyes settle on me, apparently looking for recognition. Realizing I need to cover down on my lapse in attention.

"So, the tree?" I ask.

As I ask, she visibly relaxes. Good I guessed correctly.

"Good you were paying attention. For a second there I thought you zoned out."

"Nope. I'm good with the plan now." I say, hoping she will do that annoying thing all people do around me, where they retell me what they just told me a bit ago. Almost as if I need reminding. Normally I do, but if I paid attention the first time, then I don't need the retelling. Still there is no use arguing, so I gesture for her to continue leading the way.

We go down, and down, and down, and down.

I almost wonder if the Endarians are part ant with how many levels they dug down to get to where the Endarian World tree rests.

Rumble.

The ground shakes overhead as heavy forces begin rolling into the city. So, it appears that the Endarians are willing to sacrifice the sacred tree as well for the sake of the planet. I really wonder what the plan was, are we playing Paul Bunyan? I look to the liaison and mentally laugh at the idea that she would be Babe the blue ox. Funny how you remember the classics when they are nearly meaningless.

As we get closer, I find more and more scourge minds. Minds that I easily eradicate as we begin trying to run. Though to my defense I have been working out, but the actions only started taking once I got to this universe. Again, there was likely something to that, where the unique universe theory also meant that each universe likely offered different benefits and drawbacks. I am still trying to remember other cheats I could do while I'm here, but none are coming to mind. At least not while going on a deep tour of the facility.

Finally, after endless loops down and around the base of the ever-shrinking spiral tunnel system, we get to the center of the area and see what is a rather large if unimpressive tree. The tree is impressive size wise, but really, I expected more. Maybe it is the fact that the magical energy of the tree is clearly waning.

"Oh, great tree. We have come to receive your blessing. Please grant us the ability to spread your seed." The Liaison lady says.

Poof.

With that prayer, the tree clearly seems to come to life. Energy flows into a few of the larger branches that are still able to bear budding flowers. The flowers pulse once with energy, that surges up and out.

The Liaison spreads out her arms wide to accept the cloud of fist sized pollen that looks like it is going to go straight to her. Then the moment she leans her head back and closes her eyes, a gust of wind comes. Pushing the giant pollen spores back further right onto me. Instantly I am covered in what feels like thick slime.

My skin starts to itch from the foreign substance. Fortunately, I cast a Cleanse on myself, but I can feel my body trying to fight off the foreign pollen source.

"Blah!" I say as I try to swat at the pollen, but this only causes it to spread more on my clothes and into my body, again not the cleanest of feelings ever.

The Liaison for her part just shifts slightly as if waiting for rain to hit her. Or maybe like waiting for a snowflake that will never come. Finally, after a second, she opens her eyes and looks around to see her clothes completely clean of pollen spores. She looks around confused for a second, then turns to spot me and glowers angrily.

"Look you can have it, if you want." I say, trying desperately to get what is the equivalent of old tree sperm off me. Then almost as if angered by my comment the tree makes a second offering. This time dropping basketball sized nuts right at me.

Clomp.

A giant nut hits me in the head with such force that I am knocked to my knees. Again, I apply healing in as many seconds, this time to cure light wounds. In

Thump. Thump. Thump.

More seeds fall in rapid unison. It is as if the tree is alive and aiming for me, as all the nuts that crash into me seem to mix with the pollen spores and instantly begin to glow with a light of life.

I am pelted with six total nuts, four of which take on the fierce glow of life.

"What the?" The Liaison says, as she comes over to me, but only after it is clear the tree is done dropping nuts for the time being. The picking up one of the glowing nuts she says, "You are truly blessed."

"Blessed? I just got jizzed on by a giant tree, and then pelted in the face by its nuts. That is sexual assault where I come from."

Thump.

One more nut drops down hitting me in the head.

"Fuck!" I shout looking up at the tree, trying to figure out what's its deal is.

"The great oracle was right to request your services."

"Great oracle?" I ask.

"Yes, Pouncing Tiger is legendary when it comes to prophecy."

Hearing the name, I nod; yeah figures she would be here as well. Again, I don't understand why all these annoying people are here, but the people I want to talk to aren't? Like where's Mel? Still not everything is the exact same in this universe. Me getting hit by nuts in the face from the great tree of life is proof of that.

"Five sacred seeds." She says, picking up the fifth seed that just hit me and smiling widely at it. "This one is for you." She says, holding up the fifth and final seed that just struck me in the head.

"For me?"

"Yes, Pouncing Tiger said you would need it in your future."

I take the seed. It is smaller than the others, likely why it took longer to fall. Likely, but I doubt it. Still this seed could fit in one of my cargo pockets, particularly if I took out the ration bar that I had placed in it. A quick readjustment later and I had an oversized seed in my left cargo pocket and all my remaining ration bars crammed into my right pocket.

"Come on, let's get out while we still can." The Liaison said.

Looking at her, then looking the tunnels that we would now be forced to go back up I look at her like she needs to come clean with me.

"What? We must hurry." She states.

"Then why don't we fly up?" I ask.

"You can fly?" She asks.

I shake my head, "no, but you can."

She looks at me like I somehow spoke her greatest secret. In a way I had.

"Precognition?" She asked.

"If I said yes, would that speed up this whole process?"

She pauses, still seeming to be hesitant to reveal her true form to me.

"Come on, I would expect more from you. Ms. Iron Butterfly."

Finally, after admitting her call sign, she lets out a long sigh. Then with a quick gesture her outer protective gear breaks off and reveals her thick bulletproof vest was her iron wings wrapped tightly around her body.

I must admit, for wings that look like they are made from liquid metal, they are pretty. "So, you ready to get out?" I ask.

"How long have you known?"

"Since you told me your name was 'R' something." I admitted. I remembered the name being the true name for the Endarian Operative known as Iron Butterfly, I just could never remember the name separately. I know, stupid but one weird quirk of my memory that seems to be failing me more and more often recently.

"Rayquel." She says, almost indignantly.

"That's right." I say in a way that everyone always gets when they remember that one piece of trivia that was slowly driving them crazy. You know like a giraffe's tongue is black. Pouncing Tiger is the Endarian name for General Fellina, the Iron Butterfly's real name is Rayquel.

So many things all came together right then and there. Then I ask the most important question. "So now will you fly me out?"

"Only if can carry you in a princess carry." She quips. I look at her back, at the razor-sharp wings and after a second I nod.

"Makes sense, a fireman's carry would be painful. Let's do it." I say as I go to pick up the other nuts on the ground.

This apparently was not the reaction that Rayquel was after as she looks incredulous for a second before closing her mouth and shaking her head in annoyance at herself.

"Sarcasm apparently doesn't translate well." She mutters under her breath in Endarian.

I smile, knowing a purposeful misunderstanding is the best part about learning to speak a foreign language fluently.

A NOTE FROM LYKANTHROPY

As promised. For this story having over one THOUSAND followers, here is the second of ten chapters that will be released this week.

Thank you all so much, and lets hope we can keep this story growing to two-thousand.

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Chapter 31 Don't Mind Me

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Chapter 31

Don't Mind Me

Everything was going smoothly. Even our getaway plan of me being princess carried by the Iron Butterfly was going well. Her wings were impressive I had to give her that. They seemed to deny gravity and physics as they bent and pushed us ever upwards. Every so often we would take a quick rest in the thick branches of the world tree. This might be considered sacrilege under most circumstances, but with the city and likely whole world of Endar burning around us, I don't think anyone would care. Or if they did care, they had every right to come here and complain to my face; where I would promptly then kick them and throw them down the world tree.

Panting.

Rayquel was panting. During these breaks I made sure to give her the full complement of my magic. Cleanse, Healing, Create Air. After a few seconds of this, her body would generally relax and recover easily. I tried to do this while she was moving, but her wings had an odd effect with magic. While flapping her wings seemed to absorb the energy around her. This of course made casting healing spells very tough, while we were moving.

In a way her wings were a perfect system of death and killing. He wings would draw in the ambient energy of spells around her, which her body would then absorb and redistribute out as spell boosts. Most of her spell boosts went to increasing her lift ability. I offered to provide more spells during her flight, but she quickly denied that stating the one time I did it was so much energy that it threw off her balance.

So now we have a system, fly up a few hundred feet, rest, cast healing spells, then repeat. We are a good thousand feet up in the air and still have a bit to go. This tree is impressive. Even while dying it is still a picture of power and poise.

"Incoming." Rayquel says, gesturing behind me.

By this point I don't even have to look as I can feel the minds of the different creatures. Now I would like to say that I didn't even turn around because I thought it would look badass to take out an entire fleet of the floating monsters without looking. It did, I knew. But that wasn't the only reason I didn't turn my head. By this point I was feeling the jitters of mana exhaustion, my mind was trying to process everything using the minimal amount of energy needed to do each task. I had the ration bars, but even if I ate them now, they wouldn't do anything for this fight. Instead, I just focused on the individual minds and blinked them out of existence one by one.

A look of relief filled Rayquel's face, until she got a noted look of concern.

"Why didn't you get the big one?" She asks.

I mentally felt for a mind, even doing the tricks I had practiced finding the cloaked Endarian minds, but nothing appeared. I turned to look where she was looking, and whoom.

A branch, a fucking ancient tree branch, was broken off and used as a spear to stab at me. I was so taken aback that I didn't even register the attack at first.

Not even thinking I ducked out of the way.

"Oof!" Rayquel, who had been right behind me, groaned as she was impaled by the branch. A branch that if I hadn't been so mentally exhausted, I could have caught and hurled back with my own Telekinesis-X.

Now I was mad. Not only could I not detect this creature's mind for whatever reason, but then he had the audacity to use my own power against me?

Rayquel began to fall. Mentally I kicked myself, as I clearly needed her if I was to get out of this in one piece. I did a number of things all in unison. First, I grabbed her with a Telekinetic-X hand. Then I used a second hand to grab and remove the branch that was impaling her. Then with the branch removed I cast Cure Wound on her body. All of this took less than the time to describe the actions.

The only problem was I was already mentally tired. My refusal to eat the ration bars earlier was coming back to haunt me now. Also, I looked up to where the horror had begun its attack, only to find empty air.

Damn it, the monster could shield its mind, use Telekinesis and fly? This was too much.

Whoosh.

Flames erupted up around me. Given that we were in a tree, a very large, very dying tree with plenty of bald spots this high up, this was a big problem. Okay, maybe resting in the great sacred tree was a bad idea. But now I was pissed. This jerk had the audacity to use Pyrokinesis against me?

"Oh no. No, no, no!" I shouted as I mentally placed Rayquel at the base of the tree while I let go of Telekinesis-X and switched to Pyrokinesis-X. If this guy wanted to test out powers, I was all for testing out powers. I had just given myself an Omega class upgrade and was ready to see how I now fared against others. Mentally I reached out and placed my will over the flames. This was a simple enough task, and soon I controlled the flames and removed them from the tree itself. This is the equivalent of creating a flame over your palm, versus on your palm. One looks badass, the other means you need to see a healer.

I raised the fire up, looking to hurl it at my attacker. Only to realize swoosh.

Another tree branch was coming right at me. Again, the limitations of magic, only one spell from one branch could be used at a time. This meant that if I wanted to wrestle control of the branch that was being pushed Telekinetically at me, I needed to drop the flames I had just gained control of.

Taking a split second longer than necessary I blinked the flames out of existence, then turned my attention to the branch. That split second was all my attacker needed.

Whoom!

I heard the slicing of air around the branch, a split second before it hit. This is what it means to have exceptional Perception. You can hear death coming just before it takes you.

Pain. Unimaginable pain filled my mind as the giant fist sized stick pierced my abdomen and then continued to drive forward as I was impaled on the shaft of wood.

Even dying and being used as a implement of death I could feel the energy of the world tree inside the broken branch. Even as a hollowed shell of its former glory this branch still had power. I felt that, with every fiber of my being. Then I felt the branch as it was slowly being turned in my body. Mentally I cast Nullify Senses. This was the most humane spell I had at my disposal, and it was often one of the first taught to healers. This as its name implies just cuts off the parts of the brain that can feel and respond to pain. I needed it right now, as I had a giant dick of a monster to kill.

My eyes scanned wildly, until I saw it, a dark humanoid form. I think the shape of the monster was what caught me by surprise more than anything. Before when I had first looked for the monster, all I saw was a dark blur. But now seeing the dark monster, I was reminded of the old renditions of the grim reaper coming for one's soul. The monster had a exoskeleton hood that came up over its head, much like a cobra's hood. The only difference was that this was thick and was clearly capable of withstanding the pressures of space.

The beast even had glowing white puss filled eyes that looked like tiny balls of smoke more than anything. Looking at the creature I was surprised, but my thoughts of trying to identify characteristics of the creature was quickly cut off as the bastard had switched attacks again.

Whoosh!

Once again flames erupted up around me. This time I didn't bite, instead I focused on the monster and using all my newly gained Telekinesis-X powers I squeezed. The monster might be able to hide its mind, but that didn't mean much when I could see the creature. I watched as the monster's body began to crumble from the shape of a long thin man, into a tiny ball.

Flames burnt me, which I quickly tried to douse with my limited ability with water. This did little more than overtax my mind that was already at its limits, but I focused. My mind went to the point of exhaustion and beyond. I felt my adrenal glands ignite, giving me just that little bit more of focus and energy. With my second wind from the chemicals that were coming to life within my body I focused and crushed the monster until it was the size of a basketball. A full humanoid shaped monster, brought to the size of a basketball, there was no way to come back from that. But just to be certain, I then cast the ball on fire.

Not my smartest move. The reason it wasn't my smartest move was that the beast was already likely dead. And as was noted earlier I can only perform one mental attack at a time. Thus, switching from Telekinesis-X to Pyrokinesis-X caused the previously floating monster to catch on fire and then plummet. That's right, a burning ball of monster fell and began crashing through different' branches of the dying world tree.

I really hoped no one was recording this, as I'm pretty sure setting the world tree on fire, is listed as a universal hate crime in some way. Even if I had fully justifiable means as to why I did this, the result is the same. Oh well, maybe I could claim that last spell wasn't mine, but was his? Its? I don't know what pronoun to use to describe an inter-dimensional monster that resembles the grim reaper and can fly.

I am exhausted. A quick glance down shows that while the burning ball did touch the branches below, none of them caught fire. Also, it appears that the ball soon stopped burning due to how quickly it was falling.

Sighing from exhaustion, I relax and nearly collapse against the tree.

At least that had been the plan before, squish. The three-foot-long fist sized tree branch that had impaled me was jostled free as its pointy end, that was out my backside pressed against the tree trunk.

"Right, this stupid branch." I say to myself near delirious with exhaustion.

I feebly grasp at the branch, trying to remove it manually. I know I could use Telekinesis to remove it, but right now my mind is like mush, and I can't even focus. Besides I'm saving what little energy I have left on my own healing spell.

Blood wet slippery hands grasp and try to remove the shaft that I have been impaled with. I am so focused on my own trying to remove the stick that I am surprised when the shaft is removed almost entirely.

"You need to eat." Rayquel says, her own stomach fully healed. Apparently, she had healed up enough to come and help me not bleed to death. This was good as I was close to healing my body around the damn world tree branch. I nod, first using the last of my mental energy to cast a healing spell on me. Then I reach in my pocket and pull out a ration bar.

I don't even look at it as I peel off the wrapper and begin chewing down on a substance that tastes like lightly sugared cardboard and woodchips. A flavor that quickly turns to glue in my mouth. Still, it is heavenly as my body is craving something, anything. Somehow, I manage to eat the entire thing, I would be impressed with myself, if I could manage such intricate thoughts.

A cool breeze begins to blow, and I let my mind relax slightly as I wait for the food that I managed to swallow to slowly make its way down my throat.

Flip, flap, flutter.

The ration bar wrapper that I had been clinging to, began to fly away.

Movement.

With a quick movement, Rayquel lunges past me, her hand out swiping for the ration bar wrapper that is gently rolling on the wind. She is about to go off after the wrapper, but then looks at me and decides to stay with me instead.

Seeing me, her face changes entirely and I can see concern? Again, Endarian faces are hard to read.

"Do I look that bad?" I ask.

"You just littered on the world tree." Rayquel says, gesturing to where the wrapper blew off to. At that, I just laugh. It is a deep and pain filled laugh as even now, even with my senses dulled, my healing body still hurts.

"I guess I did." Is my only response, as a smile crests my lips. With that I am so tired, that I just shut my eyes, not caring if this is it. If I die again, well I just hope I don't wake up. My last thought is of me falling to my death, falling, and striking every branch of the world tree before I finally hit the ground. It is a mildly concerning thought but made even worse as it would only be the fourth worst death I experienced thus far.

I close my eyes and am immediately embraced by the gentle caress of an empty mind.

Darkness.

***

Beep, beep, chime.

I awake in a hospital of some kind. I guess Rayquel saved me.

Chime.

That chiming sound is super annoying, I think to myself as I try to regain my thoughts and senses. I feel exhausted, almost beyond exhausted really.

An orderly comes into the room.

"Oh, you're awake." A voice speaks up. Something is off about the voice. It takes me a second to realize the voice is speaking English. This means I am at a human hospital. I think. As I force my eyes open and view the male nurse.

"Where?" Is all I get out.

"You are on the First Fleet's Flagship, the Khardashian."

I nod, nothing but the best for the first fleet. Still, I am wondering why I deserve to be on such a ship.

"One second," the nurse says after turning off the chime. "I will be right back with the doctor."

Hearing that I nod, though that was apparently a bad idea, as my head starts to pound from the movement.

I wait and wait. Then finally I am just about to pass out again when.

Knock, knock.

Of course, this is how it always happens with doctors. Then before I have time to respond, the doctor comes in. At least that is who came in at first. But soon the room is filled with several faces. Some are human, some are Endarian. A few I know from my previous lives, or visions of past lives. However, there is one face that is new, but surprisingly familiar.

Everyone enters, but my eyes remain locked on her face.

"I wanted to thank you personally for what you managed to do for our people. We thought it was just a good PR stunt. To send you two in together to gather the world tree seeds." General Fellina began. "But then seeing how the world tree reacted to your presence, even going so far as to mark you with its special blessing. That proved that you were one to take note of. This is why, we offer this to you."

The General said, holding out the smallest of the seeds, the one that nearly gave me a concussion. I awkwardly smile, but soon realize there is a drone hovering to take a wide angle recording of this. I try to smile, but don't quite know how it appears. So many thoughts go through my mind.

"We only have one condition. This seed can only be used on Endarian soil." The general said, making sure to lock gazes with the other human officers who were gathered around.

Looking at her, I almost wonder if she knows my true story, about how I am not from here. About how the world tree from my universe was destroyed over a millennium ago.

"Thank you." I speak.

With that General Fellina smiles brightly, placing the seed down next to me in the bed. Then an attendant comes up with a stick that has a big red crimson stain on it. The stick is instantly recognizable and seeing as I can see my handprints from where I desperately tried to remove the stick from inside me, I can tell this one is mine.

Seeing the recognition in my eyes the General nods and then begins a speech. "This is a branch from the world tree. As you can see there were originally two branches like this." The general began and pointed to a second stick that was being firmly held in the hands of Rayquel, the Iron Butterfly, who had her wings on full display. Clearly this was an organized press conference. I likely had some type of concoction pumped in me to force me awake at this exact moment, I think as I look at the dripping vine of fluids that is still wedged into my arm.

"A new form of Prolaxian appeared out of nowhere. Like the others of its kind, it could fly. But unlike others it had multiple mental attacks it could call from. Seeing the monster trying to destroy the world tree, our two heroes fought valiantly. First wiping out a wave of the scourge, then fighting this new Scourge General that was the embodiment of death itself." The general began, as a close of the monster appeared.

Well close of what was clearly a body camera image of the monster. Looking at it, the monster had to be from my camera, as I remember getting that exact look.

"We will now play the entire scene out for you. So, you can witness the joint efforts taken by both Endarian and Human forces. We hope that this will be a testament of what we need to do, to succeed in the future, together." General Fellina said.

Then what appeared to be a rending of the exact fight came to life. There were scenes of us first getting to the facility where the great tree stood. Then of us fighting our way into the building that was already occupied by scourge. Then us gathering the seeds and me once again being sprayed by the tree's musk. Then me getting struck repeatedly by the different seeds. Even on camera it was clear how five of the dozen or so balls began to glow after contact with me. Seeing that I shook my head in anger, stupid tree.

The scene then showed Rayquel lifting me up and me first pulling the tree seeds Telekinetically behind us. Then our fight with the grim reaper, where we were both impaled. How I took a spear to the stomach to make sure Rayquel was safe. Then how I proceeded to be set on fire, all so I could deliver the killing blow to the monster. They of course left out the part where I almost set the tree on fire by trying to burn the grim reaper. They also left out the part where I inadvertently littered on the tree, two things I was exceptionally thankful for.

There was a moment where Rayquel stripped me? Well not entirely, but she did take off my jacket top. Only a moment later, did I see the purpose for this. The seeds that I had been Telekinetically carrying needed to be carried out. Fortunately, in the scuffle they only fell one branch down into an old nest of some kind. Rayquel took the four seeds from the next, my fifth one was still glowing in my pants pocket.

Then using both my blouse and hers she fastened a harness out of the two jackets and held them together with the long branches that had been used to impale the two of us. Then there was one final image of us flying away, Rayquel carrying both me and the seeds in her make-shift backpack.

The scene ended when she flew up and out of the world tree enclosure and into the rising sun. It was a touching picture, and one that had clearly been spliced and edited from our different views.

Only once the video was done playing, did General Fellina move. She was still there, holding the blood-soaked branch.

"It is with great honor, that I present to you, on behalf of the Endarian people this world branch. Let this both be a metaphorical and literal branch of peace between our two races." She said, as she offered the branch. Then Rayquel came forward, her face slightly red as she came close. For a photo op she let her branch touch mine, something about a symbol of unison. Now our branches touched, they began to glow, likely with residual energy from the world tree. Or much more likely by an enchantment put on by the general and her staff to make this event even more grandiose than it needed to be. She was sensationalizing the peace efforts between our two races.

Normally I would be opposed to such outright lying and grandstanding, but for this because I felt it was justifiable.

"We also wish to inform you, that the threat posed by the Prolaxians is no longer a concern of the Endarian people. We can confirm with one hundred percent confidence that the Prolaxian threat is now fixed. We are also offering a branch of peace to the Dwenvarians, who are also going through their own troubles with the alien menace."

"Also, I have one thing." Rayquel said, a tinge of nervous anxiety filling her as she cut in on her general's speech. With a nod of approval from General Fellina, Rayquel acted.

"As a personal thanks from me. I offer this." Rayquel said, as she leaned down and before I had a chance to react, she grabbed my and gave me a deep kiss on the lips.

Fire and passion burned within the kiss. I was so caught off guard by the sudden action that my mind couldn't process anything. Here I was freshly awoken from a drug induced stupor. Where I was awoken to an impromptu but scripted award ceremony, where the result was a kiss?

My mind was doing loops trying to catch up. Then suddenly as she broke away, that's when I remembered Mel. I felt sick to my stomach, violently ill. I had cheated on her, well not directly, but I didn't exactly pull away from the embrace either. She was in a different universe, but did that really justify this?

Suddenly I felt like a huge hypocrite, one who speaks out against injustices done to him. But then does nothing when the same type of scenario happens to him. I needed to tell Mel.

Cough.

General Fellina's eyes glowed in a way that I knew meant she was having a vision of some kind. That cough also brought me back to the present, the kiss had been nice. Well nice was an understatement, it had been an electrical tingling of my senses. But I couldn't do it, I couldn't let my mind go down that path. But I focused and changed my demeanor, forcing a strained smile on my face for the sake of this photo-op. Still, I couldn't help but feel dirty in some way.

Rayquel seemed to have noticed something in my stiff demeanor. She nodded, and then a look of sadness filled her, but she soon too recovered for the sake of appearances.

By the end I was back to myself, at least pretending to be. I said the right things, made the right gestures in both English and Endarian. I was told this was a big hit.

I even quipped "I went and saw the world tree and got impaled for my troubles." It was a lot funnier in Endarian, because I used the pronouns denoting me as a trashy tourist, something that doesn't quite translate back into English. Also, the fact that I must explain the joke likely isn't helping matters either. You know what, never mind just assume I was hilarious, and we will leave it at that.

That was how it ended. My first trip to the world tree, in any lifetime, was a success. I managed to make inter-galactic peace between our two races, also a first for me. And I got impaled by a branch of the world tree and lived. Not that this last one compared to the others, but it was also a first, though one I would soon rather forget. Then there was the kiss with Rayquel, I caught her stealing nervous glances at me throughout the conference. Seeing her I couldn't help but feel off about the whole situation. It was something I couldn't let happen, I had been down that road many times and knew that I could only be in one relationship at a time. So, I resolved that regardless of whatever happened I would not cheat, again.

I was still mostly drugged, but by the end I realized one very important thing. Rayquel and I were being teamed up together to go and help the Dwenvarians defend their own home planet from the Prolaxians. More photo-ops and sensationalized meetings, I thought to myself. Even in a parallel universe one could not get away from the ramifications of politics.

A NOTE FROM LYKANTHROPY

As promised. For this story having over one THOUSAND followers, here is the third of ten chapters that will be released this week.

Thank you all so much, and lets hope we can keep this story growing to two-thousand.

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Chapter 32

Changing Teams?

The whole coming together as a three species army united against the scourge never happened. What had all been a huge publicity stunt in the first place ended much as it had begun, at least in my case, in a hazy stupor. The Dwenvarians seeing what the Endarians did to protect their home planet, that is obliterate every inch of city and asphalt to the ground, starting with blasts happening at an outward perimeter and working their way slowly inward to the center of the city then back out for good measure. Seeing that true effect and the fact that the joint operation conducted by Rayquel and I was little more than window dressing to show the masses; the Dwenvar did what they do best. The struck quickly and methodically, conducting three barrages of missiles on every infected city. They worked outside to in, inside out, then outside in just to make sure.

In the end the cities we would have teamed up to infiltrate were little more than glass by the time I was even out of my hospital bed. I was given the option of choosing where to go. I could either go with the group of soldiers who had my ship held hostage, this is the same group who had me on effective lock down for the two months I had been here. Or I could try an entirely new route, one never seen in my visions and join the Endarians for their training routines.

Honestly, I was curious about the space elves and their tactics. They had ruled space for generations with their applications of Psychic force to Space combat. I was curious if they could help me maximize my effectiveness as a space pilot.

There was only one real concern I had with going to Endarian space.

"Sorry about the kiss." Rayquel said.

"It was fine." I say, trying to disregard the entire thing. A quick look around revealed that I am in fact by myself. Well by myself with Rayquel, a hallway that had been filled just moments ago is now empty.

Sighing.

I realize this moment is likely another set up of some kind, but I don't quite know what the setup is for. Is it just so she can make an apology? Or is this another photo-op? I am prepared and wary for another attempt, this time.

"No, it wasn't. I could tell you are conflicted about the gesture." She says, her voice and posture denoting human levels of regret. Seeing the alien gestures on her, I decide to call them out.

"You are purposefully using human gestures to convey your meaning?" I ask.

She nods. "Yes, it seems that while you give off the Endarian pheromones to help convey your thoughts, you seem to lack the adequate receptors to understand the pheromones of others." She states.

"What?"

"Your physiology, you are listed as half-human, though I'd guess that half is a little low. But that is beside the point. You are mostly Endarian, at least that is where the 'half' from your half-human designation comes from." She pauses for a moment to let that sink in. Then she purposefully makes her face blush. "You see, you give off very potent pheromones. In our culture such pheromones are highly sought after as they ensure great and powerful children."

She continues, but then trails off as she realizes she has gone too far. Then lowering her head, she continues with her original form of the discussion.

"I could tell that you were attracted to me, but then when I kissed you for the photo-op I realized you felt conflicted about the kiss."

Conflicted was an understatement. I was caught off guard, I felt violated, and still I couldn't deny the fact that there was something to that kiss. Even now I hate myself for now much I enjoyed the moment, especially with what it means for Mel.

Nodding Rayquel continues. "See, right there your pheromones spoke of many deep emotions. The most important is a binding personal relationship to another. I apologize, I didn't know you were so mentally committed to another. I really do wish that we could make amends for what has happened and know that we wish for you to come with us, to teach us of the ways of your home universe."

Hearing that, I realize she is purposefully telling me more than she should. I also realize that the Endarians likely used her as the conduit, one due to our having already gone together on a mission, and second likely to iron out any friction we might still have between us. This is a clever ploy, and I can't help but think that the Endarians are truly intelligent in their ways of dealing with humans.

Taking a breath, I pause for a moment before figuring out where to begin. "So, you know?"

Rayquel nods. "Yes, it is no true secret now. Our operatives raided your labs to obtain genetic samples of the Prolaxians. At the same time, they obtained all data records of the initial operation. One of the files was the recording of your training video from your universe. The one where you broke formation to fight off the swarm before anyone even knew what was happening. Then how you sacrificed yourself to go through the rift. Then how you ultimately awoke and chased down a second group of Prolaxians to ultimately wind up here, in our universe."

She spoke with such knowledge and clarity that it was clear, "you saw the video?"

"Yes." One word, spoken with such utter conviction that it was hard to miss. "You were so brave. At first, I had my doubts about you, about our whole operation. I thought it was some big publicity stunt that would explode in my face. But then I saw you in action. The way you took down not one but two fleets of those monsters without a single weapon, it was truly impressive. Those are the types of legends that our civilization was built upon. To see that it was conducted by one who came from the human sector, I had to see for myself."

There was true admiration in her words. I could almost smell something too, maybe something that smelled like bubblegum? I am terrible with smells, but I could almost smell something coming from her. I was so distracted by the smells that I missed the fact that it was apparently my cue to continue the conversation. So, I spoke the first question that came to mind.

"So that's why you had so many questions?" I asked.

She smiled a dazzling smile as she looked to the ground. There was a scent of something, but again I couldn't make out any distinct scent. But her over acting with human gestures was helping me understand a bit. She was nervous and a bit flustered.

"Yes. I wanted to know you, the real you." She paused for a second, then continued. "That is why I would like you to come with us, to be part of the official human delegation to our planet."

Hearing that confession, I couldn't help but feel moved at least in part by her honest answers. I couldn't get the hint of any deception, though again Endarians are so hard to read. But if they communicate through pheromones then it makes sense why I have always had a hard time understanding their normally stoic faces. Do they use pheromones to avoid getting wrinkles? I suddenly had the image of a race so narcissistic about their looks that they gave up facial gestures as a way of communicating just to keep their perfect facial features intact.

Shaking my head. I realize I was spacing out for a moment.

"Sorry."

Blushing, "no, it is okay."

"You are purposefully portraying the human emotions your pheromones are portraying?" I ask.

She nods, some of the redness in her face going away. "It is only fair. Your pheromones are very potent and distinct. It almost feels unfair when doing this sort of business negotiations with you, as you are an open book to my senses. Also, I can tell that if you couldn't understand my motivations you would likely shut down. So, I try to make my intentions obvious."

"Wait, so you can literally blush on command?" I ask.

She blushes a little harder. "Not on command, I must feel the emotions. But rather than letting them filter through my pheromones I let a portion trickle through my facial features."

"A portion? So that means you are really embarrassed?"

She blushes profusely for a second. A look that is attractive on her and I pause myself before I start going down that road. She is attractive, but I have already committed myself to another.

Seeing, or perhaps smelling my sudden change in disposition the blush on her cheeks fades as she straightens up. Nodding she realizes this is a boundary for me. "She must be impressive. This person to whom you are so devoted."

I nod, and a smile forms on my lips as I think about her. "Yeah, she is."

Nodding again I can see a few faint traces of human emotions, but they are quickly released and placed under a stern mask of focus.

"I wish that one day, I too could find someone as devoted to a relationship as you."

An awkward pause filled the air.

"So, will you come with us? I promise to not overstep our professional relationship boundaries again."

Hearing that, I smiled. "Yes. If I am out and able to actually do things, I would much rather be with you all. Especially if the worst thing would be trying to avoid the unwanted advances of a nice, if lonely Endarian."

I felt for her, I truly did. I knew well the social stigma of having unique markers that made you clearly stand out from others. Her butterfly wings were likely a clear indication that she would be considered off limits by most Endarians. I could relate, as my hair and eyes were enough to frighten away many would be humans.

"So, the wings, I hear they are actually an evolutionary throw back?" I asked, following up on a rumor I heard in a previous loop.

"Yes. Originally all Endarians could fly with wings such as mine. Then over time, as we advanced our wings grew smaller and smaller until they finally disappeared entirely. They were deemed to be an evolutionary dead end, as those who still had wings often had problems arise. Chairs were not designed for those with wings, people originally had a hard time piloting with wings as the space suits were not form fitted for most true wings. Fortunately, mine are a unique blend of metals that can withstand the pressures of space, while also maintaining stability." She said.

Hearing that I was doubly intrigued. I didn't think such a thing was possible. But then again, I figured that if every variant of Prolaxians could evolve to fly and move through space without any problems, then having wings made of composite materials that could also withstand the pressures of space were also possible.

"So, you are a pilot?" I ask, figuring that she would likely go back to the key role that most associated with the Endarians.

Shaking her head, "no. I sadly am left to field work. That is why I was tasked with going to the sacred tree. Also, if you are to be accompanying me in the future, you will need to eat more." She said, in tone that brokered no arguments.

"You'd want to go with me again?" I ask, somehow following her down a way that I knew would lead us to the Endarian section of the flagship.

"Of course. You were amazing. Also, the way you were able to basically clear the different swarms of monsters before we encountered them was impressive. Stupid, but impressive."

"Stupid?"

"Yes. You left yourself depleted and nearly useless for the final monster. What would have happened if there was another one of those floating humanoid monsters?" She asked.

Hearing that I grimaced and then answered truthfully. "I likely would have died a quick comfortable death in my sleep."

"Comfortable?"

"Well yeah, that is the true dream of every human. To live a long fulfilling life and to die comfortably in your sleep. Or if you can't wait that long, then just go quietly in your sleep." I say, remembering all the different deaths I faced over the years. Each one I was fully awake for and truly felt.

"Oh, I wanted to give you one last word of advice." Rayquel said as we made our way to a delegation of humans. One of whom was clearly General Sharma, another was Mave. I couldn't quite make out who the others were. I assumed one of them was Lemitov, but I could be wrong.

"What's that?"

"If you do end up being with an Endarian wear protection. You likely won't have the same issue with other humans, but I suspect you are quite potent to Endarians."

I am about to get indignant at the thought of even cheating on Mel, but she stops me with a raising of her hand.

"I did not mean anything by it, other than wanting to point out that you are likely more than half Endarian. Sorry if that made you upset. I just thought you should know, because again you give off the pheromones that would attract a lot of attention from our kind."

She was really playing up the whole you are less than half human angle. I knew this was likely a ploy of some kind, one where she was telling I was making the right move by going with her to the Endarian sector of space. A part of me felt conflicted by this statement, another felt oddly happy. I knew a lot of manipulation had been done to my genomes while a child. I also knew from my visions of the past lives that I was sterile. At least, every time I tried to procreate with another human, I was sterile. But did this mean I could have children with Endarians? Then with that thought another darker image came to mind. One where I passed on my immortality curse to my progeny? So many different emotions were rolling through my head that, it wasn't until a quick tap on my shoulder made me awaken.

I looked up to see Rayquel gesturing towards an open palm record.

Looking up I saw the palm record was being held by General Sharma. The document read:

Official Transfer Orders of Subject 2522y-9m-22d

This is an official transfer order as a sign of wishing for continued peaceful cooperation between the space faring races of the Endarians and humans…

So many words, all conveying something that could be summed up in a sentence. Take Kyle as part of an ongoing peace treaty.

There, simple, but why such flowery words?

Everyone stares at me, then I realize at the bottom is a display box. Seeing the box I nod, and reluctantly reach up and press my thumb to the screen. I then signed the official document with my own status screen, a sign that I was a willing participant in this whole debacle.

With that I was officially turned over from my birth race of people and over to the Endarians.

"Don't worry. You won't be the only humans to come. We have a few others coming as part of a joint training program as well." General Fellina said, as she gestured for me to follow her onto an Endarian space transport vessel.

With that, I took my first steps in what I knew was going to be an odd portion of my life.

A NOTE FROM LYKANTHROPY

As promised. For this story having over one THOUSAND followers, here is the fourth of ten chapters that will be released this week.

Thank you all so much, and lets hope we can keep this story growing to two-thousand.

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