Grendal sat staring at the screen, the words he wanted constantly on the tip of his tongue.
What would he say? He could invite people over like he'd seen 8464 and the police officer do. But what then?
Would he have to feed all these people—where would they even sleep?
His stomach grumbled, and he frowned, adjusting himself in his seat. "CI, do you know what I can eat in the Infinite Realms?"
"USER: ID 2244. You can get food by foraging or hunting beasts. It is not recommended that you eat monsters—their blood may contain poison."
Of course, they would contain poison, he thought and moved his attention to the large screen at the end of the stage. The map flickered on its surface.
He was getting off track—from the looks of things, the tower would be complete soon, and he needed to figure out what he could offer people.
Grendal cocked his head, and a smile tugged on his lips. "Why should I offer anything?
Yeah, I need people. But, that doesn't mean I need to recruit, after all, I have the Clan Force System."
He pushed off the seat and walked across the metal stage—stopping a few feet from the map.
"People need numbers for safety. Why else could the empier's soldiers chase off those wolves—aside from their guns, of course." Grendal said, focusing on Husky and the two other workers indicated on the map. "I do not need people for numbers."
The Husks sat around, a growing structure made of pure light, arms outstretched, diligently working on growing it. They hadn't moved nor complained for half an hour they sat there—what human would do that?
I couldn't imagine anyone from Dulelupin doing that, Grendal thought. My mother would throw a fit before five minutes had passed.
Grendal walked back to the chair, casually kicking the air as he did. A little melody came to mind, and he hummed as his stomach rumbled.
"CI, How long till the Harmonisation process is complete. I would like to send the Husks out to get food." He said, slumping into his chair.
"USER ID: 2244. The tower should finish Harmonisation in thirty minutes if—"
A blaring siren rang throughout the bunker, causing Grendal to cover his ears. What was going on? The CI hadn't even told him that there could be sirens, but looking at the red flashing lights that descended from the roof, it appeared to be another hidden feature.
"Intruder detected, Intruder detected!"
"Shut it of, CI. Shut it off," Grendal yelled. "I'm going to go deaf."
Following his command, the red lights slid back into the roof, and the room returned to normal. The CI Ord still flashed red—but the sirens had stopped.
"Now what's going on, where is the Intruder?"
The map at the end of the stage zoomed forward, then stopped several feet from his chair. On the screen, he could see what looked to be two young blonde-haired women sprinting through the forest and heading straight towards his bunker.
Several paces behind them, what looked to be two—Goblins were running after them.
"So, those are our Intruders?"
Grendal rested his chin on his hand as he considered his options. If he went out there, he would be putting himself in harm's way for two strangers. However, he had the Husks, so the danger was miniscule at best. But if he left them, he'd have their death on his hands.
Could he watch someone die?
A smile pulled on his lips as his heart thundered in his chest and his leg shook his chair.
He was in control now. No one else could do it. Sure, 8464 had killed a goblin, but that was one—there were two of these.
"CI, have one of the Husk pull off from the Harmonisation process," Grendal said, getting up from his chair, striding through the map and down the stage. "I want it to join up with the two on lookout to intercept those Goblins."
He glanced back as the Orb CI popped out of its socket and flew towards him. "I hope those two girls have food on them."
———————————————————
Tia dragged her sister, Lucy, along as she pumped her legs. Every step shot fire through her body, but they couldn't stop.
She smacked branch aside and heard a yelp from her sister a second later—she would apologise, but not now.
The two little green men were gaining on them, and if they stopped for a moment, they would be dead. Tia gagged as the memory of a half-eaten face surfaced—the monsters behind her had picked it clean.
They were nothing but food to them.
Please, anyone, someone. Help, Tia thought. But, as she pushed even harder—her legs gave out, and she crashed to the floor. Lucy—clattering to the ground alongside her—let out a shriek.
Tia scrambled, attempting to get to her feet—her breathing haggard as she clawed at the grass. A whimper left her mouth as she locked eyes with her sister, who was clutching her ankle.
Lucy was hurt, and Tia didn't have the strength to get back to her feet.
No, no, no. Not like this, please. Tia thought.
"Lucy, Lucy look at me," Tia said, crawling towards her sister. " It's going to be okay."
One of the green monsters burst out from a bush. Sacars marred the creature's hairless chest, and a struggling loincloth covered its lower half.
Lucy screamed, and the creature let out a snarl before racing forward—Its fractured and decaying teeth glistening in the sun.
Tia's head throbbed as it approached, "Stay back you—"
A white form slammed into the creature, knocking it off course and sending it flying into a tree. The white thing then launched at the goblin, golden claws outstretched.
Tia froze. Had something else come to kill them? Her thoughts were interrupted as the second goblin crashed through the bushes in front of them—it, too, was tangled in combat with a white creature.
"Tia, we need to run." Lucy said at her side. "Those things are distracted with each other. If we run now we—"
"I can't go." Lucy said, turning to her sister and falling on her stomach. "My legs are dead. I can't. You should go. run."
"I can't, we need each other."
"Don't be an idiot, go." She said, pushing herself off the ground and bearing her teeth at her sister—her mirror image. "I'm not letting you—"
The rustling of a bush caught Tia's attention, and she turned, praying another goblin hadn't arrived. Instead, she found a man with black hair strolling out of the brush—one of the white creatures accompanying him at his side.
His green shirt almost blended in with the forest shrubbery, but his black trousers stood out amongst the backdrop.
"Husky, go and help your friends out," he said, tapping the white creature beside him before turning and smiling at her.
Tia's eyes widened; who was he? He was the first living person they had seen—if you didn't count the chat log. Other than that, the only other person was the dead guy with a half-eaten face. Tia gagged as the memory rushed back.
"Who are you," Lucy said, standing up, hobbling over and blocking Tia's view of the man.
"You can call me Grendal. I saw there were some intruders so I came to have a look," the man, Grendal, said.
"Are you here to hurt us?" Lucy asked.
"No. I just came to put down a threat."
Lucy turned to the ongoing fight between the man's creatures and the green monsters.
And Tia followed her gaze.
The two Goblins had gotten back onto their feet and stood snarling at the two—robots. That had to be what they were—pristine white humanoid robots with golden claws and blank faceplate-like masks.
The robot, Grendal had called Husky, walked through the loose grass and stood behind its friends. The calls of distant birds filled the air, and the robots lowered their stances before shooting forward.
The leftmost robot slammed into a goblin, knocking it back a step, but had the Goblins jaw locked onto its shoulder for its effort.
The two other robots tackled the remaining goblin to the dirt and began clawing at it in a frenzy. The goblin screamed and thrashed. It got a swipe in, cracking the faceplate of one of the bots. But a swift golden claw racking across its throat put it out of its misery.
The two then joined the first in butchering the last goblin.
Tia's hand went to her throat. If she had been in that goblin position, would she be able to fight back? No—she would die an even worse death.
Who is this man, and why can he control them? Tia thought, nudging her sister's leg out of the way to get a better look at their apparent saviour—though that could change in a heartbeat.
"Ah, nice," Grendal said, pumping his fist and smiling at something she couldn't see. "I've levelled up, CI. Do I get to chose a class or something now?"
Tia raised an eyebrow. She always found it strange watching her sister interact with her own CI—she named it Ben. But, someone else interacting with one was somehow worse. The man hadn't even bothered to change its name.
"He levelled from killing those things," Lucy said, whispering and crouching to Tia's side. "Do you think he's 8464?"
"No," Tia said, turning to the robots digging through the goblin corpses. "He doesn't give me the same vibe 8464 does."
The man cleared his throat and began walking over. "I wouldn't watch what they are doing, I can barley stomach it myself," he said, smiling. But Tia noticed his heavy swallowing.
He was not 8464. From how he acted when he levelled up to the aftermath of the fight, making him green in the face—this was his first kill.
"So, who are you two?" He asked, stopping before them. "And do you have anything I can eat?"