The meeting back on the Golden Chariot was not progressing well. Bolat was against any idea's that the twins had and Runemagi Vark was reaching his limit for communicating using the device and talking openly would not be as secure.
Lisa, Jania and Chris hadn't recovered from the latest mission and were struggling to add anything productive. Null and Infy were frustrated they didn't understand why everyone wasn't excited about finding more missions.
"That went better than I expected. I never knew the planet was hiding such a secret." A random stranger was suddenly in their meeting room. Jania reacted first and tried to pin the unexpected guest.
"Jania don't worry, they aren't physically here. It is a projection." Infy could feel the mental link, they had never considered they could project images and not just words. He would have to experiment with this later.
"As expected from a fellow Angel, yes Infinity I'm just a spirit projection," said the stranger.
"Were you the one that arranged the mission? I knew it wasn't a coincidence but why?" Chris knew someone had to be pulling the strings behind the scenes but didn't expect to meet them.
"Why? Because it was fun or maybe I have other reasons, who knows?" something was alluring about the voice of the stranger and others in the room couldn't help but admiring him.
"Get to the point, why are you here?" Null was immune to whatever charm effect the stranger was having on the others.
"Ahh, the defective half. Professional curiosity? Or waiting for you to show your appreciation. No no I'm sure there is something else, oh well I might remember it" The stranger was having fun teasing the human.
"Angel or not it's time for you to leave." Infy and Null used their field cancelling spell and the stranger projection disappear and his charm ability was also nullified.
"That was weird, who was that?" Lisa voiced the thoughts of everyone in the room.
"Hey Hey Hey, that was rude. It seems Sariel brats have teeth. Oh Lisa you can call me Phosphoros or not, I'm not your boss. Oh, I remember why I was here. You should go check out Ollhelian. I hear it is very exciting. You like exciting don't you, Null? Anyway bye bye" and just like that, the unexpected visitor was gone.
"Where Ollhelian?" asked Chris.
"It is an Elven civilian world. We can't check it out even if we wanted to" Vark was sceptical at everything he had just witnessed. There had to be a deeper meaning behind the performance but he couldn't trust his judgement as he had fallen victim to the charm ability.
"It doesn't matter, we won't be following his advice" declared Infy, he couldn't put his finger on it but there was something wrong with Phosphoros and it wasn't just him insulting Null as being the deflective half.
"Is he an Angel like Zero? Aren't they the good guys?" Jania liked things to be simple. There had to be good and bad guys.
"Hmm, Phosphoros can be translated to Light-bringer. Wait, no, it couldn't be" Chris's history lessons and training were bearing fruit.
"The devil? no, he couldn't be the devil he was too nice" Lisa couldn't believe it. His voice was too soothing.
Null didn't trust him, he felt different to Zero and he just wanted to keep doing missions.
"He feels different to Zero, I don't like him"
The interruption had left everyone confused, so they called it a day.
Later that day Chris went to visit the boys in their room. He had wanted to check up on the boys as they had seemed irritable in the meeting. He didn't think letting those feeling fester would be good for party unity or that's what his training was telling him.
"Hey, What do you think about our latest mission?" asked Chris. He was interested in getting the boys perspective on the mission as they had a different life experience from the rest of the party.
"It was fun, we fought a large monster, learn more about magic and got to see the Valtaui in action. I want one of those energy swords. Oh, and a gunship" Null had no problems describing his true feeling on the latest mission.
The answer was within Chris's expectations. He was worried about the boys' moral compass. They seemed to show no compassion for the tortured souls or the other explorers. He knew that Bolat and his Mum were still suffering ongoing trauma from the mission.
Lisa hadn't been able to sleep without nightmares. Jania was handling it slightly better, but Chris reasoned that the harsh training as part of the super-soldier program had helped her. Chris himself felt relieved he hadn't been able to hear the tortured souls so he hadn't suffered much from the mission.
"What do you think about all those tortured souls and the explorers that died?" He asked the boys hoping to lead them into answering about the moral aspect of the latest mission instead of physical aspects.
"Honestly, we don't think about them. We weren't the ones torturing those souls and as for the explorers, they knew there was risk associated with exploring an unknown planet. Do we wish they didn't die? The answer is yes. Were we responsible? No" Infy had realised what Chris was wanting to know so gave him the most honest answer he could muster.
"There are trillions of souls in the galaxy and of those billions of them are being tortured in some way. We don't have the energy to be worried about them. The only people we worry about are those directly related to us." Infy and Null were extremely pragmatic when it came to deciding who to care about.
Chris had to admit that the twin's point of view could be considered valid, but he worried that if they became as powerful as he suspected they would then it could become problematic. They were going to need support to ensure that pragmatism didn't turn into detachment.
"So you were both upset that everyone wasn't more excited today?"
"Yes, Exactly we have so much to do, we need more Zallium. We need better suits and a jump gate and a new ship and to upgrade the Aethon and Eous. Except no one cares and Bolat just says no to everything" Null wanted Chris to understand his frustration.
"Follow me" Chris had them follow him to his mother room.
"I know you can see inside, what do you see?" Chris knew the answer but he was hoping to teach them a lesson about individuality.
"Why is she crying?" Null could see she was crying but didn't know why.
"Let us go ask her" Chris led the twins inside the room.
Lisa wasn't going to say anything at first. She tried to claim she was fine, but Chris kept prompting her until she relented.
"I can't stop thinking about the tortured souls, every time I'm alone I remember their pain and re-live their never-ending torture."
"Why do you care? You didn't know them" it might have sounded heartless but Infy was actually curious about the answer.
"I might not have known them, but they were still a person. They had their own personal likes, dislikes and love ones. Just because I didn't know them doesn't mean I shouldn't mourn their passing. It is up to those that remain to remember those that have left."
Lisa's view on life couldn't be any more different than that of Infy and Null. Lisa and the 3 boys talked for a bit about their beliefs in the hopes of fostering understanding of all viewpoints.
It was not like talking was going to instantly make either of the twins change their minds, but it did offer them another perspective and they could now understand why the others weren't as excited as them.
Small steps, but all journeys started with a single step.