My mission began with me hopping out of The Crack and falling directly into the middle of a river
      made of blood. I had been told in the briefing that the planet had undergone several massive
      wars due to overpopulation but even this was kinda over the top for me. Although this thought
      mostly crossed my mind because it wasn’t the first blood river I’ve fallen into and the last time I
      did, I wasn’t too excited for the next time I’d do it even when I knew it would come.
    
      As soon as my body fully submerged itself into the dark red river, I felt the viscous fluid attempt
      to creep into every part of my body like a pathogen. I could feel my body pump into overdrive as
      all the vaccines and antibodies that were injected into me when I first joined kicked into gear in
      order to keep me protected from whatever diseases were currently chomping at the bit to eat
      away at me. It made me feel sluggish as it did every time I got shoved into one of these
      pleasant baths.
    
      Within a few seconds I began to swim ashore to an embankment that was nearby which made it
      harder to get out of the river than it should have been. After squirming my way ashore like the
      tiny insect I am coughing and wheezing out the blood I had accidentally inhaled from a less than
      graceful descent I was able to start drying off my pants. Or at least that was what I had hoped I
      could do before the behemoth that was sitting at a nearby bloody tree had made itself known.
      Before I interacted with them, I took a look at the surrounding area, the place was more than
      just covered in blood, it had become a permanent fixture of the landscape. The cliffs had been
      eroded to have even more deadly angles, the grass resembled spikes and was already trying to
      cut into my metal boots, trees were melting their leaves trapping surrounding living beings for
      sustenance. It all gave me the feeling that this giant didn’t have any friendly intentions. Giving
      them one glance, they were covered in thin copper wires that held together flesh, muscle, and
      arteries. The only facial feature they gave before they took a giant swing at me with their thick
      blunt sword in their right hand was a deep dark stare with sunken-in and dark red eyes.
   
      I couldn’t access The Layers much here, I could pop in and out for a few seconds and maybe
      start a small fire, but getting a boost in strength was out of the question. It forced me to simply
      move out of the way of the attack to the beast’s right and to their uncovered side. They
      immediately swept their blade over my feet, in response, I closed the gap between us and
      attempted to start climbing them so I could slit their throat with Olga’s knife. My attempt was
      rudely interrupted when they used their left hand to grab me. I try to hold myself back during
      fights regardless of the circumstances, because I have no idea when some of my abilities may
      be taken away from me so it can help me be prepared for the worst when it happens.
   
      As soon as they grabbed me, Luna’s goo inflated outside of my sides, forcing the behemoth’s
      grip to loosen, allowing me to easily drop out right as they pulled me up to eye level. Again, I
      tried to climb the beast which looked like it was doing a lot better than a second ago. That was
      until a section of copper wire underneath my foot erupted as soon as I grabbed their shoulder,
      and along with it a hand holding a sharp blade. Instantly, my right arm had been cleaved clean
      off along with my grip on the titan. Using the last bit of my strength, which I was quickly losing
      due to the blood loss, I sealed up the wound with Luna’s goo and used her to form a new arm.
      Using said new arm and my proximity to the enemy, I reached for my revolver in my hip holster
      and blew the top of their head off. Instantly, they fell, their wounds and gore blending into the
      surface of the cruel planet we found ourselves on.
  
      “Are you alright?” Luna said worriedly in my ear. While the blood loss looked to be troublesome,
      I had gotten out of that fight relatively unscathed. Don’t think about the missing arm too much.
  
      “Don’t worry, I’m still conscious.” This wasn’t my first time losing an arm mind you so I was able
      to walk this one off rather easily. Well, after nursing the stump briefly with a tourniquet and a
      lighter to a point that it was fully sealed.
  
      After the recovery Luna sighed, “Good, sorry for letting my guard down, I’ll be on the lookout
      since you’re obviously exhausted.” Which was correct seeing as I was about to fall asleep at
      any second.
  
      “Thanks Luna, let me just check this guy out then I’ll conk out.” She giggled at this remark
      before going into scout mode.
  
      I walked over to the new corpse that now oddly fit in with the dying world I found myself in and
      looked them over. Yep, they sure were dead. Their eyes bulged in horror as the gap in their
      head spilled crimson onto and into the grassy floor below. I looked over at the giant sword they
      had swung at me and noticed how dull, beaten, and battered it looked. That instantly made it
      lose all appeal for me in my scavenger hunt for something to protect me from bigger fellows
      than this guy. Knowing that anything could be useful I turned my eyes to the sword that had
      burst from their skin in a rather lazy attempt to bisect me. It was the most nondescript blade ever
      with an entirely rectangular design. At first glance, it appeared to be a longsword with just the
      right length to be wielded one-handed or two-handed for someone slightly taller than me. The
      blade, hilt, and handle were all made of an iron-like substance and showed no craftsmanship
      whatsoever, as if it were yet another mass-produced object. About it’s only unique property from
      my perspective was that it was longer than average, which may actually be an average size for
      the people of this planet.
  
      Regardless, I heaved the blade onto my shoulder and immediately crashed down onto a nearby
      tree or something that resembled one in a previous life, looking to get some shut-eye since my
      last mission had been rather exhausting and I didn’t have much time to rest between missions.
  
      After a couple hours a gentle voice belonging to an older fellow spoke up to me. “Must be a nice
      day for a nap, sir.”
   
      Annoyed at the immediate misgendering, I correct them with an annoyed “Ma’am!” before I even
     opened my eyes.
 
     “Apologies ma’am, I was just passing by and noticed a stranger that doesn’t belong here, so I
     figured I’d stroll up and say hello.” Now that my eyes were open I saw that this fellow had a
     similar meaty structure to my last enemy, although some of the wires were withered and
     snapped and overall their body was similar in size to me. My eyes drifted over to the corpse,
     and I was completely awoken from my nap when I noticed that the body had melded into the
     ground and was sinking below the surface.
 
     Their eyes drifted over to the corpse as well, “Ah, you must’ve taken them down about three and
     a half hours ago.”
 
     My curiosity peaked and overtook my surprise, “How do you know that?”
 
     “We eventually had too many corpses for us to conduct proper disposals a few decades ago
     and as a result we adjusted the planet to decompose our corpses at a faster rate so we didn’t
     have to worry about them. I’m pretty surprised you don’t know that offworlder, our home has
     become well known for its devastation.”
 
     Unfortunately, in my mad dash to get all my shit done as fast as possible, I neglected to learn
     much if anything about the location I was headed to, so this old codger and his seeming
     tendency to ramble exposition was incredibly useful.
 
     “Say, how do you know I’m not from here?” I ask.
 
     “Well your wires are differently colored. How don’t you know this, I figured this was basic
     universal knowledge? Not that we can travel off-world to find out if it’s true, but it’s still strange.” I
     looked down at the copper wires around my stomach and my newly implemented eyesight is
     able to analyze and see the difference clearly. Where the slightly brighter hue I had in
     comparison to the old man would have been nearly impossible to gleam with my old eye, it was
     now abundantly obvious with my new eye.
 
     “Sorry, that fucker knocked my head around and I’m still trying to get oriented a little.” My
     attempt at lying nearly gets caught up by my translator reaching down and trying to wind my
     vocal cords in a manner that would make my sentence make sense. The two parts of myself
     hadn’t fully synergized with the new body I had been given and it might’ve made me appear a
     bit more unstable than usual. “Oh also, may I ask what your name is, my friend?”
 
     “I can tell you my name, but first I would like to know which planet in our system you come
     from? Normally everyone just sees the state of our world and then immediately turns around.”
 
     I immediately tugged out of my ass some stupid lie I usually have baked up for situations like
     these. “Well, I’m not actually from any planet, I’m just a wanderer and I needed supplies and I
     was desperate enough to stop here.” I said with a hearty chuckle that they showed no reaction
     to. “The name is Dr. Alex for reference!”
 
     They looked me up and down for a moment before speaking, “My name is 0001, the father of
     Blood Weaponry.” they finally said with a bit of a bow and no emotion in their voices.
 
     “Ah, well it’s good to meet you 0001.” I said without any fanfare. He eyed me a bit curiously.
 
     For this mission I asked the rebuilders to give me a body similar to the flesh masses of this
     universe, about the only thing that was off about my disguise was the obvious cat ears and tail
     that came with me from before, as I specifically requested. It explained how much he was sizing
     me up, but it didn’t explain why he had such an interest in me. Plus, with a bit of Luna acting as
     my right arm since I was too lazy to go back to get a new one. He especially eyed Luna.
 
     “What happened to your arm?”
 
     “Space parasite.”
 
     “Ahh, I see.” He replied nonchalantly before the problem was pushed aside.
 
     Eventually he spoke, “It seems you know very little about what happened to us. In that case, I
     apologize that you sought refuge on our dreadful planet. If you're truly curious, I could bring you
     back to my house and offer you some supplies and information before you can go back to your
     vessel.” I figured the latter would be useful but I would probably have to come clean about the
     former before I could get anything of substance if I was to continue fishing for info. Regardless,
     after sliding the sword into a sheath I took out of the Layers (my one use for the day and I’m
     glad 0001 didn’t notice or ask about it) we traveled for about an hour across jagged planes and
     rotting wastelands. At the end of that hour I found myself on a hill where I could look out across
     a devastated and disgusting wasteland filled with flowing masses of blood, including the river
     that I had landed in. The corpse of the giant I fell was barely visible after this much time had
     passed.
 
     “So why were you down there?” I asked as we were approaching a massive cave.
 
     “Blood Weaponry works best with fresh blood, I knew of that beast and was headed off to slay
     them before you cut them down.” I assumed he salvaged what he needed before he awoke me
     which I very much appreciated. Although, it was strange they didn’t have a visual weapon on
     themselves at the time, just a stylized metal gauntlet. “Say, would you like to learn about Blood
     Weaponry since you're new here and all?”
 
     “Why yes, I would like that.” I said trying to hide my curiosity poorly.
 
     We headed into the dark cavern which much to my nonexistent surprise was also oozing and
     spilling blood from every surface of the cave. It also made it hard to walk around without
     slipping. The first room held three rusted iron doors, from the left came two feminine voices that
     sounded like they were undergoing a slightly bitter argument. The man leading me rolled his
     eyes, although they slunk back into the sockets briefly before he barged into the room on the
     right, making a passing comment that the middle room was his laboratory.
 
     Ducking to follow the man through the door, I found a massive room packed to the brim with all
     kinds of metalworking machinery of various sizes and states of decay. However, stuffed into the
     back while surrounded by several lathes, drills, and saws was a massive unrecognizable
     machine that was covered in tubes and pipes that were all filled and leaking blood of various
     colors and viscosities. Almost the entire machine moaned and groaned as he hooked up several
     vials to a small panel in the machine with a practiced hand.
 
     “So, are you a scientist as well?” He said absentmindedly.
 
     “Yeah, I study Quantum Physics, but over the years I’ve come to have a taste for just about
     anything with how much research I’ve done.” I said also absentmindedly since my eyes were
     taking in the great effort the machine put into pumping the blood through tubes into what I now
     noticed was gauntlets of various sizes. “Wait, why did you ask?”
 
     “You seem curious, it is in a scientist’s nature to be curious. The first thing you did after I awoke
     you was ask a question.” He said with a little more focus as he turned to me, trying to ignore the
     stupid smile (well the shape of a stupid smile seeing as neither of us had a mouth) on my face
     as I listened intently. “Ahem, well Blood Weaponry is a series of, I suppose, magnets gathered
     into a device meant to control and weaponize blood using the massive amount of iron found in
     us, as the name implies. I started developing the device when I was young and foolish and
     thought that the continued creation of weapons would assist my people. Now it just causes
     more and more bloodshed, and it’s about most of what I have left… You can fire concentrated
     blood, make sharp objects, even some advanced versions can create explosions, shields, and
     other fancy equipment. Now with all the metal shortages, it’s about the only weapons we have
     left, which I suppose was inevitable since it was originally made for improvising weapons during
     sieges.” He stopped his line of thought to think a little more before sighing as if the effort wasn’t
     worth it. “Yeah, that’s just about it.”
 
     I figured now was the time to come clean since if I played my cards right I could get a valuable
     weapon. “Thanks for telling me so much about this world. Really, I find this place fascinating, but
     because of you being so upfront about everything I should be honest with you, I didn’t actually
     come here to get resupplied. I came to kill the 362nd general.” He looked like he just had a
     bomb dropped on him which he certainly did considering some of the things the general has
     done, according to my own already existing knowledge of this place. He looked around slowly
     before leaning in close.
 
     “Can you actually do it?” He whispered as if the room was bugged which clearly couldn’t be
     considering their ramshackle technology and the blood that would be leaking into my eyes if my
     sockets weren’t caved in.
 
     “Yes.” I said reassuringly.
 
     He looked scared, conflicted, and reassured all at the same time and was deep in thought after I
     told him this. “Can you give any reassurance that you can even do it?” He whispered again.
     
     “None whatsoever.” I said simplistically and truthfully. “But I will promise you he will no longer be
     a problem in under thirty days, regardless of what you do.”
 
     His emotions did not change, all he did was turn around to the massive machine he was
     pumping blood into earlier before going off to the side and grabbing one of the metallic
     gauntlets. Luna and I, mentally bumped fists. He then sauntered back to me pushing it into my
     hands.
 
     “Would this help on your miss-” He said before we were rudely interrupted by two shitheads
     (affectionate) bursting through the door.
 
     The slightly more plump and taller of the two shouted out “Dad, we need your help wi-” Her eyes
     turned to me. “Who’s the girl with the weird arm?”
 
     He said heavily, “Dr. Alex, meet my daughter and soon to be daughter-in-law, 0719 and 1265.” 
 
 

 
     In this brief moment he shoved the gauntlet onto me and forced me to take it which I gladly did
     since I had the curiosity and recklessness of a cat standing on your table.
     
     “Okay but seriously, who is this Dad?” The girl who I presumed was 0719 said.
     
     It took about five seconds of silence for 0001 to realize that I was waiting for him to listen to his
     daughter and answer her question. Did he seriously think I would answer for him, was he crazy?
     “This is uh Dr. Alex, and she’s come here from the off world to restock on supplies.
     Unfortunately she’s had to travel a lot farther than she wished to get those supplies.” I didn’t
     know why he lied but I didn’t push him for an answer.
     
     The two girls, fat with the satisfaction of that answer, then turned to me. This time the smaller
     one behind said, “Sorry about my girlfriend’s behavior, she can get a bit ahead of herself at
     times. I’m 1265 and this is 0719.” She said cheerfully. Luckily, the two quickly dropped any
     questions about my sludge arm and focused on me.
     
     “That’s right, but more importantly Dad.” She said, ignoring me, “Their back.”
     
     At this news 0001, turned to his daughters and said, “Their back, again?” He sounds like he has
     many things better to do than to deal with whoever these nuisances were.
     
     For the first time, I actually felt like speaking up, now that we were past casual conversation. “Do
     you need any help with this nuisance?”
     
     The two girls immediately lit up just as their old man did when I dropped the bomb on him. “No,
     that won’t be necessary, we can ward them off just fine.”
     
     “Still, I can come with you to at least boost your numbers a little.”
     
     0001 seemed to have a lot of regret from the creation of his weapon. I don’t quite understand all
     the details but I do understand his desire for damage control so I’ll more than happily assist him
     here. I turned to him to see his nonexistent eyes sparkle with appreciation from my unwelcome
     insistence.
     
     He sighed, not really because he didn’t want to fight on this but because he just sounded tired.
     “Fine you can come with us, but don’t do anything stupid please.”
     
     All four of us left the cave and reentered the egregious landscape that encompassed it. While
     on our way I noted the similar attire across the family. Generally, people here only wear pants
     and armored boots to protect themselves from the terrain but they were consistent in the make
     of their outfits with only minor alterations from previous use. They probably slept in these
     clothes and hadn’t washed them for months judging from the smell. I wanted to ask about their
     sorry state, but assumed they didn’t really have the energy for any long conversations at the
     moment. Eventually we reached the bottom of the hill where three people of similar stature and
     size to the first person I killed on this planet stood. As we approached I withdrew Luna’s arm
     and slid the gauntlet onto my remaining arm.
     
     I occupied myself from the death march down here by fiddling with the gauntlet while behind the
     group. It seemed to have multiple easily-access switches built into the palm to designate the
     strength of one’s attacks while profiles to change the type of attack were built into switches
     placed on the knuckle. Meanwhile blood vials were held all the way around the wrist and
     seemed to have a revolving mechanism similar to one of my revolvers. As for the types of utility
     (I learned the rest of this later with some experiments), there was enhance mode which made
     blades sharper, longer, and easier to swing. Ranged mode which allowed me to utilize blood for
     ranged attacks. Then there was defensive which made me realize how redundant these
     explanations were; however, their was also the unique blood management which allows one to
     manipulate the blood of yourself and others so you can do things like harden the body, make
     yourself lighter, and steal other people’s blood. Basically, with some training one could mold this
     feature into just about any kind of functionality one would desire.
     
     The three immediately looked up to us and said, “Are you gonna give us the weapons now, old
     man.”
     
     He didn’t even wait until the end of their sentence before he sighed. “Again, no, I do not have
     any weapons, and again, no, I would not give them to you even if you paid me to. In response,
     they all grabbed the handle of their weapons. Dull looking swords just like mine.
     
     “We weren’t asking dulfur.” The one in front said threateningly. The other two slowly started
     drawing their large swords which were about the same as mine in design but made bigger to
     accommodate their size.
     
     The old man looked like he just wanted to crawl into his grave and be done with this. “Now now,
     I’m sure we can come to a compromise. Perhaps some scrap metal can suffice-” He said before
     the one in front abruptly drew his sword and pointed it at the old man. I didn’t even wait to act, I
     wanted these assholes gone and before I knew it I slipped off to the side and I drew my sword
     as well, the enhancing setting on. My own upward slice went by way faster than I had
     anticipated and sliced his sword hand completely off.
     
     He screamed long and hard after taking a second to realize what had happened, his two
     companions slightly taken aback just as I was. The ringleader’s screams brought us all back to
     reality and suddenly the two were looming towards me looking to kill us all for the small sleight
     of taking a hand.
     
     They both sliced through the air, at range, I was confused for a moment before two slits of blood
     shot right at me, one vertical the other horizontal. I dodged diagonally and decided to fire back
     with my own blood. I shot a long horizontal one towards the two accidentally slicing the bent
     over ringleader. The slit was low enough that they couldn’t duck underneath so they tried
     switching to defense instead. Although it seemed I had been overestimating my strength that
     day since only one of them was fast enough to block me, the other had their legs sliced clean
     off, they ended up dying on the spot.
     
     The last one ran at me with an awful battlecry deep from the back of their skull where the
     equivalent of a vocal cord laid and charged directly at me. I hadn’t taken the time to learn what
     blood management was beforehand so when they bent their body so low that he practically
     folded their body into the ground with his strike I was a bit taken aback. Luckily, I was able to
     block the strike and after a few exchanges I was able to disarm him by reaching the epicenter of
     the blade towards their hilt and shoving the sword out of their hand. “Fuckhead!” I shouted as
     their weapon went flying.
     
     After that, they fell back onto the ground, throwing their arms up in fear, “Wait, I surrender!
     Please don’t kill me.”
     
     I didn’t see a good enough reason to kill them, they had already learned their lesson. “Beat it
     kid.”
     
     They muttered some quiet thank yous before grabbing their friend and limping off, not even
     bothering to take the corpse of their other comrade.
     
     When I turned back I expectedly found 0719 holding her sword up to me looking a bit upset.
     “What the fuck was that?”
     
     “I hated their attitudes and cut them down. Assholes like that need to learn the hard way
     sometimes.” I know I sounded cruel, but I figured honesty was my best bet.
     
     She slowly sheathed her sword and chuckled, “Alright, well our dad seems to trust you so I
     guess I’ll give you a chance.”
     
     You could see the shape of an idea appear in her girlfriend’s eyes as she said. “Wait, are you
     resupplying up by The Abhorred Reefs, because we-”
     
     “Enough.” The old man abruptly interrupted. “What’s done is done, she’s on our side and has
     done a great service for us.” He said moving towards me and casually stepping over the corpse
     without a second thought. “We should at least reward her with a hearty meal.”
     
     And so I went to eat with this strange fucked up little family.
     
     On the way back, 0001 gave me some advice that I would be sure to carve into the back of my
     eyelids. “Also, don’t feel sorry for those folk, as you could see they forgot what remorse meant a
     long time ago, show people like that no mercy in the future.”
     
     Shortly after arriving back home, 0001, 1265, and I all sat at the table. The old man was languid
     and passive while 1265 looked at me with stars in her eyes. 0719 stared daggers at me as she
     left the room. “Don’t even think of hurting them.” I held my hands up in a mock surrender, having
     already left my revolver and sword at the door after fashioning my belt so that the two holsters
     for them were locked together on the side that was opposite of my remaining arm. As she
     leaves, I turn my head to 0001.
     
     “So um, is there some context here I’m missing?” He barely opens his mouth before 1265
     interrupts him.
     
     “Oh, 0719 and I are hoping to get married but we’d need to head over to the Abhorred Reefs to
     officiate the marriage. We were just talking about how dangerous the journey would be when
     you came in and dealt with those thugs. So what do you say, care to take us with you?” The old
     man gestured toward his daughter, or soon-to-be-daughter-in-law, for her to calm down.
     
     “She just got here, at least let her rest a little before making the decision.” The decision came
     easy to me.
     
     “I can take care of a couple of kids and frankly I’m already well rested. We can leave after this
     meal if you please.” 1265’s eyes lit up and lit up blindingly as 0719 entered the room.
     
     0719’s lack of enthusiasm seeped into the conversation immediately. “No, we are not taking this
     journey with a stranger darling.” She said putting the meals down a bit lazily. The time it took to
     prepare this meal (which was just some meat) was about the time it took to prepare a
     depression meal, like a lonely ice cream date.
     
     “Plllllllleeeeeease, we don’t have anyone else to turn to.” 0719 seemed to consider this for only
     a moment before resigning way too fast.
     
     “Ugh fine, we can go with her, but if I say we bail then we bail.”
     
     1265 lit up enough to sear my fucking eye from the insides of it’s socket and excitedly bounced
     a little in her chair. In hindsight these people's behavior wasn’t unexpected. They were knee
     deep into a worldwide conflict nobody wanted and were just trying to live their best lives. But no
     matter how much they didn’t want it, it seeped into everything. 0001’s lag and his constant
     stalling with his sighs. 0719’s immediate distrust of anyone that can turn with a flick of a coin.
     Even 1265’s singular enthusiasm for their wedding was single-minded and desperate, in the
     way that you’d use anything interesting to distract yourself from work you need to do that you
     don’t want to do.
     
     0719 turned to me and said, “Hello, I’m this old spawn’s daughter and this is my soon-to-be wife,
     1265.” She waved a little wave. “And I’m fucking exhausted, can we please eat our meals.”
     
     We sat making lazy small talk which I responded to with various “mhmm’s” and “yeah’s” and the
     ever exciting “damn, that’s interesting” before the day had finished and we all hit the hay with
     me having a small cot in a guest partition of the girls’ room. However, he introduced the two to
     my space parasite before we all went to bed.
     
     And one other detail that will always remain with me from that night was just how damn good
     that meat was. I mean god damn, I know I had new taste buds, but it was the best thing that had
     ever graced my senses ever.
     
     The next morning came after centuries when the nightmares that I battled off alone came to the
     same abrupt end they always do. Those nightmares had been assaulting me for over four
     centuries so when dawn came relief washed over me as I wrestled back control of my thoughts.
     
     It took us about twenty minutes to slide into our pants and finish a quick meal while taking a few
     essentials with us, including a new bandolier of blood vials for myself, before the four of us were
     outside the cave with the hot sun powered by millions of artificial generators beating down on
     us. It was hotter than I thought it would be and personal research later would show that that was
     on purpose so as to destroy bacteria and other viruses. It turns out that an iron-based lifeform
     that constantly interacts with blood is highly susceptible to viruses.
     
     0001 was facing the three of us from the inside of the cave and first pointed at 0719, “You,
     always remember to keep calm and not let your mistrust get the better of you.” She grunted in
     response.
     
     He then pointed to 1265, “You, keep my daughter in check and always remember to keep the
     necklace on you at all times.” She giggled in response. It now occurred to me that 0719 was
     only carrying a sword while 1265 was only carrying a piece of Blood Weaponry, specifically a
     necklace, I’d have to ask them how and why that is later.
     
     He then pointed to me, “And you. If my daughters are so much as hurt then I will find you and
     end you. Got me?” I nodded vigorously, not particularly paying attention to the threat, other than
     vague pleasantries.
     
     “Alright then, you three have safe travels.” He said before he and his daughters turned to walk
     away. I was still standing there a bit taken aback by the sudden departure, not a single emotion
     was on display between the three. It was as if this departure had been practiced hundreds of
     times. I wasn’t a member of the family and had no intention of becoming one, but there was one
     loose end I needed to try tying up.
     
     “You gonna be okay, friend?” I asked him, which only garnered the attention of 0001 who turned
     back to me slightly.
     
     “Why do you care to ask?” The aggressiveness made me fumble but I needed to ask anyway.
     
     “Well uh, I know that loneliness can be hard on… someone with a guilty conscience… so I just
     wanted to uh check on you.” I said a bit unsure of myself.
     
     Now he fully turned to me and had conviction in his voice for the first time. “I only have two
     goals in life, to make sure those two are happy and to destroy every last remnant of Blood
     Weaponry in the world, once I have the means to. I have no intention of taking the easy way out
     until I am done.” This satisfied me for the time being, I knew intimately just how harsh the
     cocktail of PTSD, regret, and depression were. As long as something kept him going, he should
     be mostly fine on his own.
     
     I turned away with a smile on my face and said. “That’s all I need, old man, take care.” Before I
     followed the girls turning away from the kindred spirit who would burn the world if it was
     necessary.
     
     Before I was out of earshot he muttered to himself, “Wait, where the hell did her sheath come from>""
 
 

 
     After hiding the body (I’m joking), We traveled for the entire day, and after digging around a flat
     area for two hours, I found a nice one with an absolutely shitty view of the surrounding area.
     After looking around for another hour, I managed to find one that was moderately better for not
     getting ambushed. This was especially important since we already had killed three on our first
     day of travel.
 
     My two guests really had been planning this trip for a while, because they were able to set up
     the campsite within five minutes tops and were already knee deep into a conversation that I had
     no context for after I got back with some firewood that kept slipping out of my grasp from the
     blood. So I did the only thing a socially-inept person would do and snuck away so I could talk to
     the one familiar person here. After finding a decent hilltop that wasn’t covered in blood spikes or
     pools of bright yellow acid, I managed to find a decent spot where the trees weren’t so ominous
     that I was constantly on edge. Looking up to the sky, I saw nothing but dark night smog that
     covered almost the entire sky letting only a little illumination come in from the moons. All three
     moons through the smog seemed very far away, as if even they wanted to get away from this
     hellhole of a rock. After a moment of peace which was interrupted by me trying to sit on a rock
     and burning my ass as a result, I spoke up to Luna.
 
     “So, what do you think about our companions?” I said trying to start the conversation with an
     easy question.
 
     “There's definitely something wrong with them.” Luna said, stating the obvious.
 
     Actually, interestingly, we’ve talked about why a higher being like her would have an emotional
     understanding for creatures who were far below her a few centuries in her past and the most
     prevalent theory was because she became as weak as us.
 
     “Well that’s pretty obvious, one of them is paranoid of even someone that her father trusts and
     the other trusted me way too quickly. Not to mention, you’d think they’d act a bit more dreadful
     what with civilization encroaching it’s end.” I said knowing she already knew what I was thinking
     which in return illuminated the dumb idea she was thinking.
 
     “Do you think we should help them with their issues?” She said knowing my cruel response. We
     only talked like this because, even if our situation was awkward, we loved one another which
     made these actually (semi) spoken conversations important.
 
     “Not at all, people struggling like that just clam up if you ask them out of the blue and even if
     they don’t, the two might run off and we’d no longer be able to protect them.” I said with a small
     part of the back of my brain second-guessing myself. After all, none of my response was based
     on any theory or data, just personal experience.
 
     She let a small moment pass by before saying, “You already care about them so much even
     though you’ve known them for a day and a half.” Damn right I do, I’d gladly stick my neck out for
     any of my fellow weirdos.
 
     She snickered internally at my response which I only externalized with an “mhm.”
 
     We talked for a few more hours about pointless shit, like the unique views and geology of the
     region. About the things we’ve eaten in the past few years, although it was mostly her talking.
     Then I got to talking about the book series (well our computers adapted the T98’s as books for
     me) I had recently been reading and, oh god, I talked about that for way too long. Just as I was
     trying to sneak over spoilers while telling her my favorite part about the endings, she ended the
     conversation so that I could go to sleep.
 
     “Well in that case, I think we should get back to camp, don’t want to make them worry too
     much.” She said, wrapping this conversation up, and possibly also telling me to shut up ((love
     you sweetie (she just said this was really cringe)).
 
     I nodded before taking one last look at the moons, while wondering if they had gotten further
     away from this planet throughout our short talk.
 
     I tried sneaking back into camp but was caught by 0719 putting her soon-to-be-wife to sleep.
     She chewed me out before I could stuff the dinner they had made for me down my throat maw.
     It was so damn good even just thinking about it. After a few hours of sleeping, we got up to find
     a blinding red sun beating down on us. Now that I had a good look at it, fuck, how the planet
     hadn’t just sizzled up into ash from proximity was beyond me. Looking up, it easily took up
     two-thirds of my vision and probably would’ve blinded me if I looked at it for more than a second
     without protection (hehe).
 
     After packing up, again in less than five minutes (these crazies were built different I swear), we
     moved on to a small town. Well town is a bit, very, too generous of a description. It was really
     just a few crumbled buildings with some tents and a bunch of depressed looking people all over
     the place, dragging themselves around in a desperate attempt to give meaning to their
     existences. Well in their defense there was at least one building that showed no damage or
     decay although I’m pretty sure it was unoccupied.
 
     “So what is this place?” I asked my companions, now somewhat warmed up to their presence,
     emphasis on ‘somewhat’.
 
     “It’s the town of…. Actually I don’t even know if it has a name anymore. Nobody cared enough
     to remember it or give it a new one.” A wonderful sign of things to come. “We’re here to pick up
     some supplies since my dad doesn’t have everything we’ll need for the long trip. How much can
     you carry?”
 
     I flexed my giant, massive, humongous arms maybe a bit too much. “I can probably carry 80
     kilos in a single day.” I said probably flexing a bit too much.
 
     “Perfect so you can carry everything for us.” Well that backfired spectacularly. “Don’t you agree,
     1215?” She nodded way too vigorously for my liking, although the smile on 0719 may have
     made it all worth it.
 
     We walked up to one building that seemed to be composed of a single room that was occupied
     by nothing but the roof overhead that had completely fallen into the building's interior. It had a
     single window that was long cleared out of any glass or wood to hold the glass in place, instead
     a massive blood trail sleaked across the remains of the window. Inside, I saw that most of the
     roof had been swept into the corners and a person appeared to be sitting amongst the rubble
     waiting for death.
 
     As we approached, 1215 stopped me with an arm outstretched, “I almost completely forgot that
     you're new here and need a quick lesson about how things work around here.” She slowly
     turned me to a giant sitting by a destroyed column near the entrance of the “town” and pointed
     at them. “You see those folks, anyone taller than 3 meters is called an “ Upper” and they have
     authority over everyone smaller than them. That’s not a law, it’s just the rules that we’re used
     to.” I nodded now knowing why she freaked the fuck out the other day. “So promise me you
     won’t go starting shit with them unprovoked.” I nodded knowing full well that I was gonna start
     shit with them unprovoked.
 
     After that we walked into what I assumed was the quote-on-quote “store” where we would get
     our supplies. 1215 then walked up to the fellow and asked for a week’s worth of traveling
     supplies. The fellow took about five seconds to look up to my companion and just stared at her
     listlessly for another ten seconds, almost like they weren’t sure if they even had it in them to
     fulfill her request. After a moment, they slowly got up and pushed aside some of the rubble in
     the back which took a herculean effort on their part. This unveiled a small door that they had to
     shove open after about another minute. I tried to offer help but the offer itself seemed to pain
     them so I just left them to it. After a combined five minutes of effort they finally managed to get
     into the small dark room in the back. We waited another minute before they returned, with
     several bags of what I assumed was meat and other supplies for survival. They said “Money?”
     (or rather this is its closest equivalent, “currency” might be a better word) before 0719 produced
     a small palm sized bag, the contents of which I can only describe as wet and squishy since I
     didn’t see them.
 
     After that with all 72.35 kilos of equipment, we left the building to find that others had started shit
     before I could, how dare they. A group of two upset individuals were standing before the Upper
     and throwing insult after insult onto them. I have no idea what their goal was or if they even had
     a goal, but regardless of the goal it seemed to be about as effective as a tiny insect trying to
     take down a brick wall with cardboard. But you know, points for trying. The Upper was about to
     stand up before my two companions yanked my pants waistband which tore me out of one
     stupor and into another. After mentally recovering from getting nabbed, I was finally able to
     register what they were saying.
 
     1215 was speaking and said, “We need to get moving now.” 0719 was standing behind her
     looking worried.
 
     “Why, it’s just one person?” The sound of metal tearing apart flesh and the screams of the idiots
     cried out from behind me.
 
     “Their high ranking, which means they can summon a squad to burn the village.” I didn’t
     understand why they’d do that or why it mattered since the village was effectively already dead.
 
     “Why?” I said genuinely curious now.
 
     0719 only got more uncomfortable while 1215 only got more angry. Luna quietly asked me if we
     should back down and listen to them, before 1215 spoke up through gritted teeth trying to
     contain her rage and volume.
 
     “Who the hell knows why, all we know is that it happens way too often! Now can we get the hell
     out of here?” She said which was all the convincing I needed to get moving.
 
     We had quickly planned to take a slightly longer path that should get us to the next spot that we
     decided to rest at a bit later in exchange for a safer path, which was acceptable to all of us.
     Although that didn’t remedy the need to walk past the Upper on our way out of town which gave
     us a lovely view of their victims. The first was slumped up against some rubble and their
     stomach was completely eviscerated from brute force, their face twisted in agony and torn apart
     from the other beatings they underwent. The second was simply sprawled out on the floor, torn
     in half at an awkward barbaric angle. Pink and red gore spilled out onto the road and blended in
     as quickly as it left the bodies. None of the brutality gave anyone pause, not even the townsfolk
     who witnessed it unfold. In fact, one or two were already moving to carry the bodies away. The
     Upper, who looked mega pissed, was talking into some big grayish metal box in a voice that we
     couldn’t pick up on due to the distance. That sight made all three of us shamble on quicker.
 
     Outside of the town, we made decent progress over the hours. In the blistering light of the
     overbearing sun that felt like it was constantly looming over my shoulders and with the burdens
     of anxiety regarding our lack of supplies gone, I finally started to take in our surroundings. We
     had been traversing through forests ever since we left 0001’s home and the trees seemed to
     gaze at us as we passed by.
 
     Amongst the spiky blood grass were leaves that 0719 very occasionally knelt down to examine
     before shaking her head and continuing on with our journey. About halfway through the day on
     one of these inspections, she grabbed the leaf and, to my horror, bit into it. Before I could tackle
     her and burn the leaf, she turned to me and her girlfriend and asked if we wanted a bite, which
     to my growing horror 1215 happily walked forward to take a bigger bite of the thing. 0719 then
     explained that this was a specific species of leaf that she had read about when she was
     younger. It turned out that it was a delicacy, used in some of the most expensive dishes in the
     world and she had found one when she was incredibly young and has been hoping to run into
     another for almost a decade at this point. The species name was Ptolfum.
 
     During the trip, I also noticed an abundant lack of wildlife, which 1215 had chalked up to terribly
     destructive decisions by their ancestors, which seemed to be a common reason for many
     occurrences in this dying world according to my experience. The only creature, or maybe
     creatures, had been what appeared to me to be a wolf, except it had six long spindly legs, it’s
     body was longer than usual, it’s ear drooped before it’s eyes, it had three times as many teeth,
     and strangest of all it had a long tube coming from it’s nose that sucked up the remains of a pile
     of corpses. Some of the corpses were of the inhabitants that I had met before, others were
     unidentified. It stared at us as we gave it a wide berth and as 1215 told me it was called a
     Striun.
 
     About halfway through the day, we all sat down on the safest looking log to take a short rest and
     as we did so, 0719 leaned onto 1215’s shoulder and the two smiled which made me feel
     incredibly awkward for third wheeling them. So I decided to try and open them up a little with a
     simple, “So how did you two meet?”
 
     They both looked at me quizzically, as if they didn’t think I was capable of asking questions,
     which was fair since I hadn’t said much in two days. 0719 started, “Well it wasn’t anything
     special, we just happened to meet at our school and we grew close before becoming a couple
     as we graduated at fourteen.”
 
     1215 nodded and smiled a bit wider as if recalling warmer times. “Yeah, we had a hell of a good
     time then.” I smiled in response, I was at least getting them to warm up a little.
 
     “That sounds amazing, I didn’t start going out with my first girlfriend until I was 37, although that
     was mostly due to extenuating circumstances.”
 
     “What were those circumstances?” 0719 chimed in quickly.
 
     That question, while harmless on the surface, was a total nightmare to answer. With the shitty
     little town I grew up in where the inhabitants constantly beat me up, my struggles with college
     courses that drove me to a mostly solitary life, my shit-stained military career, or the horror show
     that was Project Infinite Green where the entire world hunted me down with interdimensional
     assassins.
 
     I decided to start at least somewhat logically, “Well it started when I went off to college, I found
     out fast that I was way in over my head. The material was hard for me to grasp, my professors
     weren’t much help to me because…” It suddenly occurred to me that they may not understand
     racism so instead of saying I was a foreigner, I said. “They didn’t care about their students. On
     top of that, I struggled with medications, finding my place, and my roommate seemed to have a
     new partner to have sex with at least three times a week. Which-” I then noticed that 1215 (who
     stared at me like I just shit in her bed) was covering 0719’s (Who looked utterly terrified) ears.
 
     “What?” I asked the two.
 
     “Sex before the post-marriage dance ritual leads to bad omens.” 1215 answered me as if she
     was also simultaneously trying to disarm a bomb.
 
     “You know that has to be superstition.” I said in my most disarming voice possible (I swear Luna
     this pun wasn’t on purpose).
 
     “Well look at you, you're a pretty big bad omen.” I have heard many confidently wrong people, I
     did not expect them to be amongst them.
 
     “What, I’ve never had sex in my 598 years of existence.” I said with a hint of satisfaction on my
     tongue.
 
     The two stared at me as if I had just told them that I had beheaded their loved ones and kept
     them mounted above my fireplace. In the shock and awe, 0719 murmured, “But… why?”
 
     “The voices tell me not to.” I said calmly.
 
     “What voices?!?” 1215 said with alarm. I know everyone hears the voices (Both Luna and Olga
     have corroborated that they hear them), it’s just that all these shows, movies, books and the like
     say that those who hear the voices are crazy, which is frankly absurd. Mine has been nothing
     but helpful and has helped save my life multiple times. I was going to answer them until the
     squad that 1215 had told me about emerged from the nearby forest, surrounding us in an
     instant.
 
     They were all slightly smaller than the Upper who was at the village, some rode on shorter
     versions of the Striun and all wore the same bland, nondescript sword that I had. A few even
     had shields, and I think one had what appeared to be a rifle but I couldn’t get a good look.
     Could’ve been a telescope for all I knew. All wore metal articles that bore blood vials across all
     of them similar to my gauntlet and 0719’s necklace.
 
     One walked up to us, my two companions now frozen stiff, and said, “Are you three from the
     nearby village?”
 
     I stood up and turned to them, my hand on the handle of the revolver, “Nope, we’re just
     travelers.”
 
     They nod before turning away and giving a hand signal to their squad. I say to 1215 and 0719
     quickly, “Duck and rush for the trees closest to us.” Before they could ask a question in
     response, the person who approached us turned around, blood leaking up their gauntlet and
     onto their sword in an attempt to cut us in half. Unfortunately, I already had my revolver drawn
     and plugged them three times at point blank range before they fell. Two shots in the upper chest
     and one through the jaw, causing them to stumble before they died.
 
     The rest descended on us quickly after that, I saw 1215 grab 0719 before the two bolted in the
     direction I pointed them in. As for everyone else, swords had already been drawn, mounts
     dismounted (I swear I’m not trying Garty), and battle cries echoed across the small clearing.
     Everything slowed down as the chaos ensued and as the adrenaline set in. I saw all 88 soldiers
     descend on me, about 12 were focused on my two companions.
 
     Now I’ve never had formal training with a sword, even though I plan to change that someday,
     but for someone like me who studies the physical nature of the world and martial arts, it did
     seem a bit simple. The weight of the sword and how different components affected the weight
     distribution as I withdrew my pistol and drew my sword made my movements with it clear and
     sensible. I wouldn’t say I’m a master but I got the job done. I cleaved arms from their sockets to
     disarm opponents, I stabbed intestines and used the corpse as a shield, I broke defenses with
     my foot before cutting them down, I cut legs off before finishing an enemy off, and I screamed
     through the demonic grin on my face until they had all died or ran away. At some point, a newly
     one-armed enemy grabbed me from behind and Luna had to grab them to throw them off while I
     used my legs to kick off a few others.
 
     Although I knew where my sword should be aimed a lot of my swings were wilder than I had
     anticipated, making me dread that I could lose control but fortunately I didn’t. The only
     consequence of my reckless abandon was that most of the fight only comes to me as a blur of
     chaos and noise. Throughout the fight, blood drenched me and I even had to smudge some off
     that had landed on my eyes, I shrugged off guts like they were a sack of goods I was
     transporting, and I smeared brain matter off my sword using my pant leg. By the time my
     opponents had fallen, my meat body was dripping in a new, slightly darker red, and I could
     barely recall the entire fight, just scattered memories of blood. It still surprises me just how
     easily mass amounts of violence comes easily to me. Even after all these years of the terrible
     atrocities I have committed. I even still remembered that I had killed 69 of them (again, stop
     laughing Garty).
 
     Then I remembered my two friends. As I looked the two had only just cleared the treeline, 1215
     was cutting someone down with a glorious overhead strike, while the vials on 0719’s necklace
     were draining as pieces of spiky grass raised to surround and impale two other enemies. The
     last guy who apparently hadn’t received the memo that everyone else had run or been killed
     charged at the two. As I saw this, only a single thought popped in my head. Luna helped me lift
     the sword over my head as I threw it at them. It spectacularly lodged into the back of their head
     as they unceremoniously fell to the ground spattering 1215 and 0719 with yet more blood. The
     two looked up at me as the adrenaline cleared from all of our systems and we wordlessly
     walked away from the carnage. I grabbed my sword before we did so and resheathed it.
 
     I walked away thinking that it was pretty sloppy and Luna and I brooded over how we could do
     better next time, taking up countermeasures to ensure we wouldn’t be snuck up on again. As we
     contemplated how we would take periphery shifts in the night, 0719 spoke up, “Thank you for
     the help back there.”
 
     “No problem,” I said, mostly trying to get on with my internal dialogue with Luna so we wouldn’t
     let something like that happen again.
 
     But 0719 opened her mouth to speak again, “Lyfer for me and Vwulp for 1215. Those are the
     names we’ve been thinking of adopting once we get married. We came up with them at our
     graduation. What do you think?” I smiled at this, I was pretty familiar with the power of choosing
     one’s name.
 
     “I think they are wonderful names.”
 
 

 
     I woke up a few nights later after that encounter floating in a sea of dark and murky still water.
     When I tried to stand I found that the water only went up to my thighs, I also found that the water
     was very viscous which made wading through it very slow. The thigh-high water surrounded me
     on all sides and any view beyond 500 meters was cut off by a strange thick fog that blew away
     as I walked towards it. Absolutely no land was in sight. Something was in that fog but I can’t tell
     what it was. I waded for hours and hours and hours, with seemingly no cutoff from the hard
     water I sloshed through. As time went on, the paranoia that something was out there only kept
     increasing, I kept my head on a swivel, constantly looking around to survey my surroundings to
     see if the thing I thought was following me was there. Then, it came into my consciousness. It
     didn’t act in any malicious way, the thing following me just appeared in my mind the same way a
     memory would, a hazy overlay onto your sight that is both crystal clear and non-existent.
     However, it wasn’t fully there, its presence in my mind’s eye started out as a small portion of the
     lowest point of its body. Gradually over time, and as I walked onward in search of safety or
     cover, more and more portions of its body came into being and my image of it became more
     complete. Much like an ordinary dream, I can’t recall exactly what it looked like. I only know that
     it scared me. Eventually, after what felt like hours, the image in my head became complete and
     the second it did, I became acutely aware of the fact that the thing was now suddenly directly
     behind me, completely real. Quickly, I spun around to see only a tiny portion of its feet peeking
     out from the fog as it’s size suddenly and completely dwarfed me. As soon as I finished turning
     around it raised its mighty feet into the air. I craned my neck all the way back in a desperate
     attempt to behold its complete image just before it smashed me like an insect.
     
     Suddenly I pulled myself from my pillow sucking in great breadths of air. I was in one of the tents
     that Lyfer had set up last night and my blankets and pillow were completely drenched in sweat. I
     heard the sounds of our usual morning preparation from my travel companions outside and
     decided that I should make myself not look like I had just seen the true and horrifying face of
     God, before I headed out there. Taking a brief but necessary moment, I turned inward to Luna.
     
     “Hey, sorry if that spooked ya. Are you okay?”
     
     “I’m just fine.” She did not sound fine. “Okay, I’m not, I just… saw beings like the one in your
     nightmare before I met you. They always terrified me.”
     
     “I know, that must’ve been rough, but don’t worry I’ll avoid them the best I can for you. Even if I
     very much doubt we’ll ever see any big fuckers like that. And even if I can’t avoid them, I will
     protect you, you have my word.”
     
     She giggled her usual giggle before saying, “I see, thank you Dr. Alex, I appreciate that… By the
     way, was that a new nightmare?”
     
     “Yeah, may have to record and send this one off to my psychs. I’ll let you know if anything
     comes of it.
     
     “Okay!” She had a brief pause. “I love you.”
     
     “I love you too.” I said with a smile before going back to my preparations.
     
     Luna wasn’t completely connected to my mind but she has a good enough view of the inside of
     my skull to get a decent idea of what’s going on in my noggin. I’ve been working on a device for
     the past few decades to let her sort of tune out of my brain, I would like to not have to subject
     her to my constant nightmares. Although as I studied Welburthils anatomy I found that the
     project would be a hell of a lot more difficult than I initially thought. I may have to expand the
     scope or branch out to get any results.
     
     After a moment of preparation, I came and casually sat down to start eating the meal they had
     prepared for me. So fucking good.
     
     We were on a long pathway that was about halfway down a cliffside and this weird blood rain
     was nearly drenching us. We had decided to take this path so we could avoid some rough and
     rocky terrain that was nearly untraversable. We camped out at a wide perch we had found that
     sat above the endless sea of blood we had traveled beside all night. For some reason, I thought
     there would be fog above the sea, or at least I saw some in my mind’s eye. After looking out at
     our surroundings and letting my enhanced taste buds make this delectable meal even more
     delectable, I turned my attention to the two lovebirds across from me who were now much more
     open about casual conversation, especially after I had slaughtered two-thirds of a battalion to
     protect them. I don’t know what they were talking about, but the conversation was about to die
     down to a lull as I tuned in, so I took the opportunity to ask a question I had on my mind since
     last night when we were trying to avoid those giant falling rocks.
     
     “Hey, may I ask why you two are getting married?” They both turned to me rather curiously.
     “From where I’m from, marriage wasn’t too much of a big deal. It seems like a big hassle for
     people like you who are already struggling. And don’t tell me you aren’t struggling, I know how
     little money you had after buying those supplies (well Luna did if I’m being honest and she let
     me know).
     
     Vwulp put her plate down before answering. “Well if we look at the practical reasons, there are
     really none to speak of, especially since just about every organization who could help us live out
     lives has fallen. However, for us marriage can be a form of a rite of passage for us. It shows,
     mostly to ourselves, that we have improved as people and that we have entered another major
     step in life.”
     
     “We also told each other that we would not change our names to our chosen ones until after we
     married.” Lyfer chimed in.
     
     “That’s right.” Vwulf beamed back.
     
     “I probably should’ve figured that was the answer.” I said just going with the flow. “Although I
     never really got why that was done, maybe it’s because I’m more focused on practical results. I
     mean why would anyone want to spend an absurd amount of time and money on some big
     dumb social gathering anyway?”
     
     “What big ceremony?” Vwulf said, and any attempt at a response on my part was immediately
     shoved down by a desire to shove the barrel of a gun into the roof of my mouth rather than
     acknowledge the fact that I had made an error. (Hey message from
     fifty-thousand-plus-years-in-the-future Dr. Alex, this was a joke and shouldn’t be taken seriously)
     
     “Wellllllll uhhhh to answer your question 0719 (they still insisted I use those names until after the
     marriage), where I’m from we typically hold those to celebrate the marriage after the vows are
     made…” I said trying to calm down every adrenal gland across my body.
     
     “Vows?” Lyfer said to my immediate and grave displeasure.
     
     “A-anyway we should move on from this conversation, it was a dumb topic anyway uhhhh how
     about the weather?” Yes, casual smalltalk, that’ll save my, totally worth saving, social standing.
     
     The two followed this up by staring awkwardly for five seconds before shrugging it off. Lyfer
     eased my growing panic by saying, “Well seismic activity has been low for the past few days so
     old military booby traps, earthquakes, and high water levels shouldn’t be a problem. At least not
     until five days from now and even then we should be clear of these cliffs in a day or two where
     we will finally have arrived at The Abhorred Reefs.”
     
     I wasn’t really upset about our departure but I was wondering if they were gonna be alright.
     They can absolutely handle themselves in most situations but this world is hell in more ways
     than one. A part of me was still hoping that we could give them something more than
     encouragement for when we eventually split ways.
     
     “You have many many many guns, I’m sure one of them can help them make it home to their
     father and their new lives.” Luna helpfully pointed out.
     
     Wait, that wasn’t helpful in the sense I was thinking of, “Luna, that would be awesome, but I was
     thinking about something more substantial. Like some uh-” My thoughts were cut off by Lyfer
     grabbing my attention.
     
     “Hey dumbass, if you're gonna ask us a question I figured that meant I was free to ask you my
     own.” I scratched my head and nodded.
     
     “I know the terminology has been homogenized after The First Shots, but you said that you
     were a woman (for future reference, the actual term for male and female are respectively (at
     least untranslated since the other words to describe gender didn’t have an equivalent in my
     language and culture), Asilf and Agern, but up until this conversation I left them as is since that
     was how I understood it up until this point and don’t worry there's an explanation coming up
     soon), but you fit the role of a Bsilf much better, so why do you say your an Agern?”
     
     I was very confused by the slight shift in terminology so I needed to clarify before I stepped on
     some more broken glass like I had earlier. “I’m sorry, could you clarify? You know, I’m not really
     from around here.”
     
     Lyfer scratched the back of her head, clearly taking her mistake a lot more lightly than I did.
     “Well the way that gender works for us, is kind of like a waterfall diagram. At the bottom are
     Csirn’s who are basically grunts and those who don’t fall within the other four genders. Then
     there are the Bsilf who are physically strong and suited for the military and physical labor, while
     the Bgern are smart and are suited for roles like researcher and inventor. Then there are the
     Asilf and Agern who are basically their predecessors but hold leadership capabilities. You can
     tell which one you are by the density and tightness of your stringholds. If they are thinner you
     would be a silf, while the thicker ones belong to the gerns. And the tightest of the stringholds
     indicated you would be an Agern or an Asilf.”
     
     “No offense, but that sounds pretty pointless and dumb.” I retorted a bit too quickly.
     
     “Yes, it does force people into roles they may have never asked for but some find it comforting.”
     
     “Elaborate?”
     
     “Well having most of your life laid out for you can be comforting for some people, I guess. It
     means they don’t have to seek out answers to questions they barely understand which makes
     everything simpler for some people.”
     
     “But that’s forcing people into a role they may have never wanted.”
     
     “Yes, but as I said some people, like 1215, may find it comforting.”
     
     “Yes, but that role should be a choice, not something forced on people from birth.”
     
     
     She sat with that for a moment. “I guess that’s somewhat fair, especially considering how I am…
     Although I gotta ask why do you have such a strong opinion on a topic that you’ve only just
     learned about?”
     
     “We had a very similar concept for people where I’m from. Most of the people I knew talked
     about it a lot for various reasons and amongst the people I interacted with we agreed that a lot
     of it was pretty stupid. Actually, if I may ask a question, why was the terminology homogenized?”
     
     “People stopped caring, at some point people just dropped the language and started using
     ambiguous language without enforcing the roles. They all just stopped caring as our world died.
     My father kept using it because of the same reasons I told you. I guess all three of us found
     comfort in it, it made our lives a little more defined, what with how things are for us…” She and
     Lyfer couldn’t help but look out at the ocean filled with the remains of their people with somber
     expressions.
     
     After taking a moment to shake off her feelings she turned back to me while Lyfer just kept
     staring at the water. “Anyway you still haven’t answered my question.” Which was fair.
     
     “That’s because I’m happiest as myself now and that’s that.” She opened her mouth for a split
     second but closed it as she contemplated my answer before nodding.
     
     “I guess that’s fair, although some people probably mistakenly misgender you, that’s gotta hurt
     at least a little.” It was true that I didn’t really pass, shit genes, a harsh physical lifestyle, and a
     rough exercise routine meant that I didn’t exactly look like a girl. Hell, I don’t even remember the
     last time I took care of my hair besides cutting it back to shoulder-blade length about 5 months
     ago (although I didn’t have hair in this body). But I had lived with this body for hundreds of
     years.
     
     “Frankly, I’m only gendered correctly 50% of the time, and yes, it does hurt when I’m
     misgendered, but at the same time choosing to be this way has been the single most important
     and meaningful decision and I’d rather die than go back to the miserable guy I was before.” She
     nodded in response and the conversation was over.
     
     Although my own questions weren’t done as I looked at her sword and let the curiosity in me
     rise. “Did you make your sword yourself?” It had a custom black hilt with indents that likely made
     gripping the sword a little easier along with an extended and slightly enlarged pommel that had
     two characters that spelled out her future wife’s name.
     
     She perked back up and something in her face glowed, which I had never seen before. “Ah
     yeah, me and 1215 made this sword ourselves, along with the custom Blood Gauntlet that she
     uses! The hilt was of my own design which was mostly for practical purposes, but I want to
     make more designs in the future. The blade was made with Qyiulej (a metal I had never heard
     before or since) which makes it a lot better than those shitty mass-produced blades, like the one
     that you have which you probably scavenged from someone you killed.” I quickly nodded to
     confirm her suspicions as I was pulled further into her discussion. “Oh! The material was also
     used to make the interior of the hilt, although the slight change in color was done by 1215. Isn’t
     that right darling?” It was then that we noticed that she was still looking out at the ocean and we
     both became a bit worried.
     
     “Hey darling, are you alright?” She asked gently.
     
     It was then that Lyfer snapped back to attention. “Oh! I’m doing just fine, um the meat package
     this morning tastes really good right?” She said while making a poor attempt to sound like she
     was fine.
     
     We didn’t really say much after that, the topic of their people’s destruction clearly was sitting
     heavy on their minds so I figured conversation wasn’t really appropriate. Even Luna couldn’t find
     the right words to say. Unfortunately, our departure was further interrupted by Lyfer’s Blood
     Amulet malfunctioning while reloading, causing our departure to be delayed. So I decided to use
     the time to inspect one of the guns I scavenged from the battalion a few days ago.
     
     As I unwrapped the red cloth covering it, I found that the gun was a blocky and clunky replica of
     a pistol. All the external parts seemed simple and lazily added, the slide was particularly difficult
     to pull back due to some blood jamming it. When I ejected the clip, I not only found it to be a
     simple non-dynamic shape but the bullets were also block shaped and rudimentary. I tried firing
     it at a wall and all the shots either barely made an impact and/or were insanely inaccurate. I slid
     the gun back into my bag so some more interested parties back in the Fixers could take a look
     at it. After that I took some blood vials from my bandolier and shoved them into the gauntlet.
     
     After about an hour we all packed up and restarted our journey. It was a rather smooth walk
     along the path, it was relatively flat and there was plenty of space to maneuver which meant
     travel and fights (not that any had happened yet) weren’t gonna be too bad. There really wasn’t
     much to complain about other than the ominous mountains above us, until divine intervention
     literally struck. About fifteen seconds after passing the least haunted looking cave on this side of
     the multiverse, across the ocean, thunder crackled all the way to our cozy corner of the world
     and a few seconds after a purple bolt of lightning stretched across the sky and struck the
     mountain just above us, sending rocky debris down on us. We had seconds to reach it which
     was dampened by the sudden outburst of blood rain.
     
     “Fuck me in the ass! Get in the cave behind us!” I shouted as Luna shot out of my lost arm and
     grabbed the two before tossing them into the cave. While doing so she shot out of my remaining
     arm and pulled me into the cave causing all three of us to stumble in there. As I finished turning
     to take a look at them, a giant rock planted itself firmly in front of the entrance along with a
     series of loud bangs, scrapes, and after a few more seconds some faint splashes.
     
     As I was about to ask if the two were alright, an unknown penetrating and somber voice pierced
     the darkness from behind me. “Whooooooo is it?”
 
 

 
     We were completely in the dark in more ways than one and even The First One probably
     doesn’t know what just responded to us. So in response I quietly approached my two
     companions and said, “Stay here and stay quiet. I’ll take a look and be back for us to make a
     decision.” The two nodded and crouched as they pushed their backs against the cave wall while
     I walked into the cave, mass-produced sword in one hand and revolver in my eldritch wife’s
     hand.
 
     I had to thank my unique genes for the first time in a long time as I walked further into the cave,
     seeing as they came pre-packaged with good vision in the dark like most cats do. I also didn’t
     bother to crouch or go slow as Luna’s sludge was able to dampen the sounds of my boots. It
     wasn’t long or particularly big, but the walls shrank inwards as I ventured further in. Also
     whatever weird thing was in the cave, as a followup to what it said before, it decided to
     randomly make chittering (?) noises at us. At the end, instead of some ominous being was a
     small dark hole in the ground. It was about big enough for a person of my size to fit into if I
     jumped down into it. Seeing that there was some horizontal space down there, along with a
     nearby wall that I could use to climb out of it, I answered the call of the void by hopping right in,
     somewhat excited by the horrors I may find and maybe kill.
 
     What I found was, in reality, a maze which took about three minutes to traverse to the source of
     our call. A web of flesh and, strangely, bone overtook the entire room which was circular, barring
     the slightly bumpy floor, and was about 17 meters from one side of the room to the other. The
     room was lit up by a red glow that seemed to come from the ceiling but I didn’t see a light
     source up there that was obvious. Amidst the web was a very small pillar, the size and shape
     reminded me of a cane, that held a head (?) on top. The head (???) had three vertical eyes near
     where the jaw would be, all three of which were not level and of differing distances from each
     other while the nose was rotated 90 degrees to the right and had four holes all on top of each
     other. The weirdest part was that the actual jaw was on top of the head and seemed to open it’s
     scalp entirely when it asked, “Oh, who might this fine young (censored to protect any reader’s
     sanity) be?”
 
     Trying to anchor my sanity to this side, I stumbled away from the thing. “So uh, I’m sorry but
     who are you and what did you just do?”

      “Oh, apologies good friend, my name is Hjell and I decided to live the rest of my existence in
      this cave in order to escape the atrocities of the war, as you do. Sorry, but that word (???) was a
      defense mechanism that I personally trained for in order to stop any potential intruders and
      seeing as you're not convulsing on the floor and dying I’d say you're not one of them!” It said
      with the calmness of a pastor giving a sermon.
  
      After it’s speech I became very aware of the lower temperature in this deeper part of the cave. I
      then remembered my two companions who would probably appreciate the coolness after having
      the sun beat down on them for days, “Okay uh, then you don’t mind if me and my companions
      stay here to avoid the rain?”
  
      “Of course, sure. Bring your meat puppets, I mean friends.” It said happily. I gave it a thumbs up
      before sprinting back to return to the two while keeping my eyes on it as I exited its home. It
      took a little coaxing for Lyfer to come further in after they got their torches working, but I
      eventually introduced them to Hjell as we sat a little outside Hjell’s humble home while thinking
      of a way to get out.
  
      “Sorry I didn’t have time to ask, but are you two okay?” I asked because Vwulf was breathing
      pretty heavily when we got in the cave.
  
      “We’re a little shaken but otherwise we’re doing alright… Do you know when we’ll get back on
      the road 1265 is getting somewhat anxious.” Lyfer responded.
  
      “I’ll think of a way to destroy the rock, I don’t expect we’ll be able to move much for a while, but
      we’ll be back on the road as soon as we can. 0719, are you okay?” She just responded by
      nodding.
  
      I stood there for an extra second wondering if what I wanted to ask next was really important
      enough to ask but decided, fuck it, we’re all stuck here for a while anyway. Besides, I couldn’t
      get what Hjell said out of my head.
  
      “Are you two really okay?” I asked a bit slowly.
  
      Lyfer looked up and simply nodded, the creases of a smile hidden somewhere on her face.
  
      “No, I mean are you two doing alright internally, this trip must have been a lot what with being far
      away from home and the state of things. All of this must be a lot for you two.” Lyfer and Vwulf
      stared at me hard.
  
      “R-really we’re fine.” This time Vwulf responded. The response made me realize I didn’t have
      much of a choice other than to back off and the two watched me closely as I did. Luna and I
      were still planning on following them, but I was still unsure if we could do anything which was
      rather depressing. In the meantime I decided to rest and set up shop across the dude sitting on
      the cane since it was less awkward than sitting across from Lyfer and Vwulf.
  
      So I sat opposite the cane along one of the walls hoping it wouldn’t initiate any conversation,
      since I just wanted to relax and observe this interesting specimen, only for my hopes to be
      dashed the second my ass hit the floor, “Hey, wanna know how my life of isolation has affected
      my psyche?”
  
      I figured there may be consequences if I said no so I said the only sane response. “Sure, the
      floor is yours buddy.”
  
      It scuttered to life as it said, “Well, it’s not too bad, I get to think about my life, the stories I want
      to tell, imagine… things… and I can avoid all of my enemies.”
  
      “Enemies?” I asked not thinking too much and not really sure what to expect because a weird
      stick in a flesh web having enemies in this deep dark cave was, surprisingly, new to me.
  
      “Yeah, before the war started and they attacked Jumtro, I had a lot of debt due to a failed
      farming business. They really chased me halfway across the world for that money even as the
      world was ending, haha buncha cheapskates those guys were!”
  
      Lyfer suddenly chimed in, “Jumtro? That place fell way back at the start of The First Blood, 896
      years ago? Just how old are you?”
  
      It laughed before saying in a deadpan voice, “That would make me about 984….”
  
      “That can’t be true, you should’ve died a few centuries back.” Lyfer said a bit whimsically.
  
      “I’m serious! Look deep into my eyes for proof!” My eyes briefly passed over its eyes. They were
      riveted shut by rusty bolts, the same way everyone else here had their eyes riveted shut at birth
      to protect from the sunlight, although they were much rustier than ours. As my gaze drifted over
      its eyes, a flash of life flashed in my mind in the matter of a nanosecond, it was, from my
      perspective, completely incoherent. It was like grabbing the biggest book off of your shelf,
      quickly thumbing through the entire book only to sit down and explain the plot in detail to a
      friend.
  
      I quickly shoved the memories into the back of my mind before I pushed on to my next question.
      “So uh, why set yourself up in this cave, other than to hide from your debtors?”
  
      “Why yes, my strangely shaped interviewer, I did come here to avoid those bottom feeders
      (translated differently to avoid a VERY raunchy slur). Although, it also seemed to help me avoid
      that war that nearly killed everyone. Thank goodness! However, I am somewhat afraid that
      some of the debtors may discover my spot, seeing as some have been patrolling this area.”
  
      “Oh, how can you tell they are in the area?” I innocently asked.
  
      “Well you see, after my body found the cave to be a very suitable home, my body melded into
      this cave interior in order for our two lives to live symbiotically with little fear of disturbance. I
      even made that fun hole you found a while back along with this maze network. Anyway, my
      body allows me to root above ground and to the paths that this mountain has and I can see
      through those roots by growing visual receptors. Pretty neat right? Anyway the debtors started
      showing up about 34 years ago and have been coming more frequently so I’m somewhat
      worried now.”
  
      Vwulf then spoke up, “Wait, are you one of the Plmwer? I thought they went extinct at the start
      of the war?”
  
      I was kinda worried it would get upset at it’s identity being discovered, but was proven wrong
      immediately, “Yes, one of the last three and that’s a shame to hear that Usuryp and Deamth
      didn’t make it.”
  
      I tried to shake off the worry about possibly having been watched on my way up and instead
      decided to listen to the suggestion Luna fed me. “So how was life before the war?”
  
      “Well, you see I would usually spend my days with my sweetheart, Usuryp haha. Every day
      we’d… we would…. Umm… I-I can’t remember.”
  
      Hoping it wouldn’t explode into fiery flesh bits that would rip me apart, I decided to move onto
      the next interview question. “Um, do you like this cave?”
  
      That got its attention far more than the other questions and made its mania calm down in a way
      I had not seen before. “Well, it’s peaceful, quiet, and isolating… I think that last part was what
      always had my interest. Even this cave, which is a living organism, is quieter than everyone else
      in the world.” For the first time in the entire conversation, it had my complete attention. “Even the
      smallest amount of chaos from my social life is enough to exhaust me. And then there was
      everything on top of that, the endless debates, the killing squads, running into criminals on the
      daily, the oncoming war. I guess that’s why I ran here, to get away from everything, to start to
      maybe not always be miserable, but even then I can’t be left alone with my peace and solitude.
      Those stupid debtors have gotta come after me… It all makes me feel like I’m broken.”
  
      I got up and walked up to it and crouched down to its level. “Every single day people try to exist
      in a world that is meant to bring people together who are fundamentally different and sometimes
      incompatible. It’s a doomed system in the grand scheme of everything but we don’t really have
      much of a choice if we all want to live equally. Sometimes we can succeed as social creatures
      and sometimes we don’t and that’s just how things are unfortunately. You're not broken, our
      entire existence as conscious and physical beings is broken and it always will be, and that’s all
      okay.” I might’ve told a little white lie at the end there. “After all, if you're broken then it means
      I’m broken and I know that’s not right.”
  
      It chuckled peacefully, “Your right frien-” It was interrupted by the entire cave rumbling violently.
      “Oh shit.” It muttered.
  
      A yell came from the entrance, “Hjelllllll, or whatever the fuck your name was, come out, we need to talk!”
  
      “Oh double shit, I left the other security measures down.” Not wanting to ask what the other
      security measures were, I started running towards the entrance.
  
      Vwulf screamed, “Alex! What did you get us into?”
  
      I responded calmly, “Get behind Hjell and stay safe, I’ll take care of them then we can move.” I
      immediately rushed my ass to the entrance and right before I came across the bottom of the
      hole, I found one guy rushing in, I immediately charged and drop kicked them, the metallic
      crunch of my boots meeting their head hit just right. Standing back up, I put a booted foot on
      their chest before stretching Luna’s arm out and tearing their head off with a simple pull all
      before they could even scream.
  
      I ran to the hole where I met the kind fellow who just dropped in (literally). Not only were they an
      Upper but they were surrounded by three other soldiers who were only slightly smaller, and they
      all turned to look at me as I walked into the corridor. I heard faint footsteps coming from the
      other passageways, judging from sound, the far left one had the most people. The biggest one
      said, “Well who the hell are yo-” just before I tossed their comrade’s head onto the ground.
  
      Now listen, I’m not one for gruesome executions, but I didn’t really want Vwulf or Lyfer to deal
      with these guys so I figured threatening them was, at a minimum, a coin toss. Well I failed the
      coin toss before the head even hit the ground because they all immediately withdrew their
      weapons.
  
      The three smaller guys all withdrew their own all too familiar mass-produced swords, and one
      held a smaller version of the sword as an off hand. Meanwhile, their presumed leader slowly
      withdrew a giant hammer, which must’ve been what made the bang from the entrance.
  
      First, the guy with the off-hand charged at me from the left, using both swords, while their blood
      gauntlet increased the length of their blades that were now cutting into the ceiling and down
      onto me. Using my revolver in Luna’s arm, she was able to parry the blades with the trigger
      guard, giving me a quick opportunity to slice their neck open. I then turned to the other two who
      were flanking my right and simply unloaded on them at point blank. One tried to prepare for a
      ranged slice but was cut off by a shot to the wrist that made them pause.
  
      A few seconds after the third one crumbled, the only enemy alive charged at me trying to swing
      the hammer downward but I stopped the blow by expanding Luna’s arm rapidly and shoving the
      hammer into the ceiling where it was now stuck. In about ten seconds, they were not only the
      only survivor of their little guard, but they were all alone. Enhancing my blade, I cut deep across
      their shins causing them to fall to their knees. I then grabbed their chin, “You have three
      seconds to tell them to back off before I make you eat your fucking fingers.”
  
      “Fuck you.” Was all they said. I unfortunately, didn’t have the time to torture them so I simply
      shoved the end of the sword through his chin and out the top of their head which lifted them
      slightly. I ran off to the leftmost passageway as I removed the sword from their head and kicked
      them to the ground.
  
      As I sprinted down the corridor, I took a corner way too quickly and found myself staring down
      the barrel of a rifle. I quickly pressed myself flat against a nearby wall in order to narrowly dodge
      the shot due to how cramped the cave was.
  
      With my gun empty and my enemy chambering their rifle for the next shot, I charged my Blood
      Gauntlet for a ranged strike but was taken aback by a sharp stinging that came from my
      knuckles. That moment was a pretty awkward time to find out that I had never actually filled the
      vials on the bandolier 0001 had given me, oops. The worserer part was that I was completely
      unaware that when the vials got low they refilled with my OWN blood. It was a morbid detail that
      either 0001 didn’t want to mention or he thought I would deduce it on my own, most likely the
      latter considering how inquisitive I was. Shoving the pain aside, I put out a single upward slash
      which bisected my opponent somewhat vertically right before they could fire again.
  
      Dashing in between the two slices of my enemy's remains I pushed onward and managed to
      finish reloading my gun before catching up on four more soldiers. Before the first had the
      chance to turn around, I skewered them and slammed them against the wall using the
      momentum from slamming into the wall to withdraw my blade before facing the other three. The
      three on top of turning around seemed to panic so I pressed my advantage by slicing the throat
      of the nearest one and kicking them onto the opponent behind them causing the two to topple
      over each other. I ended the only one left with a lucky shot to the head. Then I walked over to
      the other two and skewered them a few times before they could get back up.
  
      As I got back to Hjell’s hole, I found one guy who was assessing the situation in the hole. I
      simply drowned them in Luna’s goo before walking into the room and man was it a shitshow. A
      little under twenty completely maimed bodies adorned the floor. If I had thought I was brutal this
      guy wasn’t fucking around. Most were missing chunks of their chest and various appendages
      while a few were missing arms or legs entirely. One person appeared to simply be tearing their
      guts out with their own hands while their face was completely bashed in. I think I’m glad I wasn’t
      around.
  
      Stepping over the bodies that were already starting to meld into the ground Hjell hit me with a,
      “Hiya friend, how’s the weather?” Hjell’s hesitancy had washed away in the time I had been
      gone and I wasn’t sure if that made me happy or sad.
  
      “It’s a bit misty. Are my friends okay?” I asked casually as I withdrew Luna’s goo arm.
  
      “Ohhhhh, they're a bit frightened but otherwise unharmed.” Apparently it had forgotten to
      mention that one of them was super pissed. Vwulf as you’d expect.
  
      “We are leaving now.” Was all she said, I could understand her reasoning for wanting to get out
      of here, but something about her reaction felt off even for someone like her.
  
      Before she could tug me out I turned around to Hjell, “Are you gonna be alright?” It gave me a
      solemn and kind nod before I was forcibly tugged out of there, never to know of it’s fate.
  
      It didn’t take us long to get to the entrance of the cave and over the new corpses but when we
      did, we found that the boulder had been uncautiously shoved to the side. The rain that was
      pouring down on us all day had stopped and now left the mountain covered in its crimson red, I
      started to understand where the blood spikes I had seen before had come from with the rain
      beating down on them. Luckily blood is very sticky due to its chemical makeup meaning that it
      was hard to slip on the liquidy runoff that was now pouring off the edge of the cliff.
  
      “What’s got you so antsy today 1215?” It was Lyfer who spoke up now, which I was fortunate for
      because I wanted to ask the same question but figured my attempt would harden her. Instead
      Lyfer had the opposite effect as I listened in.
  
      Vwulf sighed before speaking, “It’s just… I’m nervous, things haven’t been going as well as I’d
      like them to and we had to take all of these detours and I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it
      back in time. I’m scared that something else might pop up.”
  
      “I know, but Alex here will always be here to protect us on this journey. Isn’t that right Alex?” I
      didn’t like how much I was being relied on but I needed to give her some confidence, all of this
      may have been freaking her out.
  
      “Yeah, don’t worry I’ll always be here to lend a ha-” You know I talked a lot of shit in my time and
      have made promises I knew I could never keep but all the karma I had gotten from those
      moments came tumbling down as we stumbled onto a collapsed section of the path.
  
  

  
      It was a simple problem really, one I could solve in an instant, but it was another problem
      compounding on top of an already very high mountain. My two companions stood stock still next
      to me with no idea of how to react, although I stepped forward to assess the damage.
      
      After crouching over the cliff edge I said, “Yeah, I think-”
      
      “You think WHAT!” Vwulf said not able to hold back her temper any longer. I had no clue what
      living your entire life on a damned world felt like, knowing that every day could be your last
      because the poor attempts at maintenance on your planet left so many issues that the planet
      could shatter and crack into a million pieces at any instant. It must have been crushing for a
      child. And now those two children had grown up and had to make major life-changing decisions.
      But none of them would ever make the world a better place, it would just make their small
      isolated existence that they could only pray and hope would last as long as it could a little more
      appealing.
      
      “I think I can fix this by-”
      
      “The first time you tried to fix a situation you got us surrounded by an entire battalion! The last
      time nearly got us crushed then killed by a bunch of people we never knew! How the hell am I
      supposed to trust you!”
      
      “Just listen to m-”
      
      It became apparent that she wasn’t in the mood for listening as she withdrew her sword, “No.
      I’ve heard enough.”
      
      She thrust the blade at me and followed it up with a horizontal swipe in her usual two-handed
      stance. The movement forced me to dance around the cliff edge to a more spacious position as
      I withdrew my own sword and held it in a defensive stance. There wasn’t a chance I was going
      to talk her down, not now, she was too enraged and pissed. I needed to at least wear her down.
      
      She made another attempt to drive me off the cliff edge to my back by pushing down with a
      massive overhead swipe. The recklessness of the attack was actually a good sign since I knew
      she was composed enough to think past the rage, it meant that she knew I wouldn’t hurt her, it’d
      make talking her down more possible.
      
      After that I blocked slash after slash, danced around thrust after thrust with no thoughts other
      than a brief mental check on Lyfer’s position which I had to file away as another stab was aimed
      right at my sternum.
      
      I noticed that in her rage her attacks were becoming progressively less coordinated. The thrust
      she just threw out made her lean in too far, putting her off balance, knocking her on her ass was
      as simple as sweeping her legs out from under her which was easy when I was at her side.
      Putting my boot on her chest I said, “Are you ready to listen to reason now.” She hissed and
      spat blood out of her mouth at my face. I was too quick for her to hit my eyes, but the brief
      distraction allowed her to shove me off of her and while I was able to remain balanced she had
      gotten back up with ease.
      
      “You KNOW I won’t hurt you and you KNOW you can’t kill me so please just give it a rest.” I said
      as I blocked another series of slashes, the last of which I parried which gave me the chance to
      push her to the ground again. Although the parry in hindsight was kinda sloppy, it was becoming
      more apparent that trying to disarm an opponent with one arm was a bit taxing especially since I
      didn’t really feel the need to pull Luna out and I didn’t want to send her sword bouncing off the
      edge since it was so special to her.
      
      “You didn’t grow up here. You didn’t see how bad things could be. You didn’t suffer like we did!”
      She screamed as she got up for another charge.
      
      “If I don’t understand then make me understand! I want to help you!” I screamed hoping that at
      least my desperation would get through to her. Unfortunately, that desperation wasn’t getting
      through to her, at this point words weren’t working so I had to resort to other means. Getting
      close to the cliff walls I put her between the wall and myself and just waited for her next attack,
      an upward diagonal slash that I easily ducked under which put me in a perfect position to slam
      her into the wall. The move forced her to drop her weapon before I turned her around and
      wrapped my arm around her neck.
      
      “For the love of god, can you please just calm down!” I pushed through my grinding teeth.
      
      To her credit, she did calm her breathing just a bit. “Why should I?”
      
      Considering that I have never seen her have a friendly interaction with anybody who wasn’t
      family in the time I had known her I shouldn’t be surprised that after a series of accidents that
      delayed us, she would get upset. I of all people especially should have seen that her getting
      upset would mean she would start throwing punches.
      
      I turned around and pushed her hard against the wall to get my message across, “Because it’s
      gonna get your fiance killed!” She shivered immediately and didn’t say anything after that,
      although the tension in her muscles began to decrease. “Look, I know how infuriating this shit
      can be, but if you don’t calm down soon, I WILL be forced to hurt you.”
      
      I really did think I had calmed her down, but as I said more she stuffed herself further into the
      wall, using the momentum to try and shove me off, which I let her do willingly. Although it was
      only so I could immediately regain my balance so I could draw my gun and put it to her head, “I
      meant it!” Was all I needed to say before the fear of death engulfed her, she completely stopped
      reaching for her sword, instead slumping up against the wall before falling to the ground. She
      looked down, probably trying to collect herself as I put my gun back in its holster. Then I
      remembered someone was missing. “Did you see where Lyfer went?” I didn’t see a point in
      saying anything else to her, she needed some space.
      
      “She went further up the coast.” Was all I could get out of her and it was all I needed. I raced
      back along the path and it took me about a minute and a half to find her standing over some
      dramatically outstretched portion of the path that stood alone over the sea below like it was an
      important location in a movie.
      
      As I approached she just asked me, “You're a scientist right Dr. Alex? Have you ever wondered
      what it felt like to plummet to your death? I know I’ve been curious for a while now.” That
      certainly wasn’t how I would have started the conversation but nothing I can do now.
      
      It had been a while since I had tried to help someone on the brink of suicide but the memories of
      dealing with this situation in the past aren’t ones that I can easily forget. “Why?” Was all I
      needed to say to get the ball rolling as I slowly inched towards her. Getting her to talk would also
      help to make her reconsider what she was about to do. Hopefully.
      
      “You probably could already guess this but we’ve been planning this trip for years. 12.7 years
      (time was translated to my standards) to be precise. We had several attempts but we kept
      getting scared or delayed by something going wrong. And money almost always came up…”
      She was very calm.
      
      “Well I can help with these problems. I already have in fact, I helped deal with that battalion back
      there and I can help with the destroyed path. You just have to trust me. Is there anything else I
      can do for you?” I inched toward her again.
      
      “Alex… The people here are tired and exhausted… Nobody wants to fight for anything anymore,
      that includes us… I know you're tired too.. You don’t have to fight… Not anymore…” She was
      still very calm as she took a step back.
      
      “As your spouse pointed out, I’m not from here. I can do more and I want to do more for you
      two. So please give me that chance to do so. There is a lot more we can do. So come on. Let’s
      go back to Vwulf and-”
      
      “I know Vwulf is dead.” She said as she took the singular step she had left towards the edge of
      the cliff, stopping the calm and my movement. “I know how she can be sometimes when things
      go wrong. I know she loses control easily. I know you're stronger than her, thus you killed her.
      Please don’t try to stop me anymore. I’ve already been through so much in the past few days.”
      
      After several days of troubles these two ended up taking drastic action, meaning if I wanted to
      get them both through this alive, I would have to take drastic action as well. I was hoping to talk
      more and I was hoping to figure out what was going on in her head more, what kept dragging
      her down, but I guess that wasn’t an option anymore. Before she could turn her back on me and
      jump, I pulled my gun out and aimed it up into the sky before resting the barrel on the
      all-too-familiar spot on my temple. God, when did I stop feeling anything after doing this. “If you
      jump, I shoot.”
      
      This got her attention because she fully turned to me and parroted my first question back to me.
      “Why?”
      
      “Your spouse is alive and I have a solution for the collapsed road, completely ready. But more
      importantly, I don’t want to see you hurt. I know that your life is a struggle, that all you two have
      is each other and 0001, but I can guarantee you that you will get your wedding and that you will
      get home. So please at least humor me and hang in there a little longer.” The decision to take
      one’s life was always a strange one to me, but it didn’t change the reality of it. Some people just
      decide they don’t want to live anymore some days, some decide spontaneously, some plan it
      out far in advance, regardless it can be very hard and maybe even impossible to talk someone
      down from the ledge. I’ve lost people to suicide before and for various reasons I can never let it
      happen again.
      
      After an uncomfortably long pause her features softened a bit and she approached me before
      slowly pulling the gun away from my head. I had forgotten it was there. “Alright, I’ll trust you and
      I’ll give this trip another chance, but promise me we’ll have out wedding.”
      
      “I promise.” We walked back to Vwulf together in silence although the return trip felt twice as
      long as the trip to find Lyfer.
      
      As we got back to the broken down part of the path, we found Vwulf sitting there in the exact
      same position I left her. As we got closer, Lyfer immediately went and hugged her letting out
      whatever emotions were building up on our walk back by crying a lot. I had other things to worry
      about as I stood before the collapsed path. Luna’s body extended from my stump and sloshed
      out over the gap, creating a solid path for me and my two companions to cross. I turned to Lyfer
      and Vwulf with my arm still attached to the makeshift bridge and gestured for them to cross, they
      stared at my arm dumbfounded for a moment before slowly rising and walking over the bridge
      with me behind them. The bridge collapsed and returned to my arm stump as soon as we had
      finished crossing.
      
      “How will we make it back?” Vwulf asked weakly and warily.
      
      “I’ll be accompanying you back so I can just do the same thing again.” I said in response, a bit
      exhausted from running around so much.
      
      “Excellent! So we can move on with no concerns!” Lyfer sounded like she wasn’t thinking about
      front flipping off a 500 meter drop just a moment ago.
      
      “No no no no, you two need to sit your dumb asses down so we can have a chat.” I said as I
      grabbed them by the scruffs of their meaty necks and lowered them to sit on the ground.
      
      The two were a bit taken aback and Vwulf seemed to have snapped out of her funk just as her
      spouse did. I kneeled down to be as close to eye level with them as I could before articulating
      what I needed to say.
      
      “Listen, I understand you two have been through a lot and I’m not going to sit here and chastise
      you for it at all. You two know just as well as I do that this world is rough, harsh, and unforgiving,
      everything that you love can be snapped away from you in an instant and even if we want to do
      everything to prevent that, it’s not always something we can control.” I took a deep breath before
      continuing. “That said, there are still things you can control. You can talk to each other about
      what you're going through and try to find if there's anything one could do for the other. You can
      create back up plans. Worried that your dad’s home will be destroyed or raided? Scout out
      another one a fair distance away. There are things you two have control of that you have not
      taken into account and that’s fine. You both have plenty of time once you're married and home,
      there is absolutely no rush to have your entire lives fixed by tomorrow. However, as you both
      very likely know that’s not always the case, some things just don’t work out, and that’s fine.
      Tomorrow is another day, another day to fix your mistakes, and there's no reason to beat
      yourself up over mistakes or actions not taken. We all do those things and believe me, people
      who have been in far worse conditions have managed to make their lives work. Myself included.
      And I know I shouldn’t say this in case it ruins the surprise, but you two should know that there
      is no reason to fear death.” I had to really keep a hold of my poker face before I dropped that
      fundamental truth, but once it was said, I had said everything I needed to say and the two
      seemed to calm down immensely.
      
      Shortly after I finished talking and after a moment of contemplation, the two held each other’s
      hands and looked up to me.
      
      Vwulf went first, “Thank you for staying by our side, we’ll remember that.”
     
      Lyfer followed, “Yeah, I feel the same way, now can we go and get this done with?”
      
      “Sure.” Was all I said as I grabbed their free hands and pulled them up so we could continue our
      journey. I distinctly remember as we walked away, the two still held hands for the rest of the day,
      which was unusually peaceful. Luna and I also noticed that for the first time in the entire journey,
      whatever wall separated the three of us seemed to have finally been taken down.
  
  

  
      All things being equal or whatever, The Abhorred Reefs was actually kinda cozy compared to
      other pockets of civilization I had seen beforehand. It had buildings with roofs, running water,
      people who didn’t look quite like walking corpses, everything you’d need in this wasteland!
      Although it could do without the lynched bodies outside it’s entrance that were adorned with the
      petty crimes that got them their death sentences.
  
      As I checked out the place Vwulf tapped my shoulder.
  
      “So, you’ll need to get going soon I presume.” She asked me.
  
      I nodded my head as I turned to her, it really wasn’t a long or eventful journey in any impactful
      way but I still figured I would try and give them a proper farewell. “Yeah, I want to get going as
      soon as possible so I don’t miss my shot. And you two are probably going to be busy for a bit.”
  
      Lyfer chimed in, “Well the marriage itself will probably only take a day and I was thinking we
      would stick around until you came back up. Speaking of, what will we do if you don’t come
      back?”
  
      The question only knocked the wind out of me for a second before I said, “Just leave after three
      days, but that won’t happen, I should be back in a few hours, so don’t worry about it too much.”
      A long moment passed before I realized that everything that needed to be said was said so I
      turned to my task and started to walk away. “Well good luck with the ceremonies.”
  
      In place of a farewell Vwulf said, “Hold on.” Which did make me hold on. “I know we haven’t
      been that open with you, but why are you going after the 362nd general..? He’s a dangerous
      person… I need to know that if you die, it’s at least for a good cause… Hell, I think you shouldn’t
      go in the first place.”
  
      I don’t think I have ever in my life met a more stupidly stubborn motherfucker than myself. I’ve
      met so many people telling me what to do that even the most innocent of attempts to get me to
      back down, just fall into the background as white noise. Unfortunately, it has also caused me to
      make poor decisions regarding friendships. She and I didn’t acknowledge it at the moment, but
      those words were the reason why I never came back. And maybe my immediate, poorly thought
      out, and too honest response after that might have completely burned that bridge.
  
      “I can’t really explain the science behind it quickly, it’s wordy and mathy and stupid, but I can
      give you the rundown. Basically, there exists something called the multiverse, a system that tries
      to make it so that every possible action can happen, will happen, or has happened. There are
      rules of this multiverse that even smart people like the organization I am from don’t even
      understand. One of those is paradoxes where things that shouldn’t happen happen anyway. The
      general is one of those paradoxes, he shouldn’t have been able to make it here yet he did
      anyway. I’m here to clean up that mess so that this entire universe doesn’t collapse in six days,
      bringing the general with it. Anyway, have a nice wedding Vwulf and Lyfer!” I gave them my
      warmest smile as I explained all of this and walked away without so much as another word once
      my explanation was over. Luna and I did our best to keep our poker faces on as we turned away
      from their completely baffled and lost faces.
  
      It took another three hours to make our way over to the battlefield. The trek was much shorter
      than it had been before when Lyfer and Vwulf were with me, which was both relieving and
      lonely. About the only thing of interest along the way was that I had spotted some birdlike
      creatures flying above me. I couldn’t determine their shape other than their rectangular wings
      and the strange north, east, and south triangle-ish formation they were flying in.
  
      It took a while, but we eventually got to the valley where the battle had been going on. I walked
      down the middle as I took in the site on either side, the land was covered in battle scars, rocks,
      empty bullet casings, and broken weapons but even still the landscape was calming in a weird
      way that isolated outside spaces tend to be. The only thing that threw off the calm was the
      dozen or so bodies, two or three of whom were still drawing their last breaths. I found the nicest
      looking rock and decided to make camp there since night was approaching. On opposite sides
      of the valley were two different encampments, each with tents and large equipment that was
      definitely for whatever fight they were gearing up for tomorrow. From my understanding from
      Lyfer and Vwulf’s recounting, nobody actually remembers the army's names, what countries
      they fought for, or even why they are fighting. My own little theory is that this is the closest thing
      to a genuine purpose for living for them.
  
      As I laid back a familiar snake appendage wrapped out of my arm and hovered above me. “It’s a
      beautiful night isn’t it?” Said the more friendly voice in my head.
  
      After a second of remembering to take in the night sky I responded, “Yeah, you can actually see
      the night sky unlike the last few nights. There was enough smog to kill someone for all the
      nights we’ve been here.” It really was nice not to see that smog. Not just because of the new
      and lovely sky view, but because said smog had been what nearly doomed these people so
      long ago, their only saving grace being a forced genetic mutation that drastically altered their
      bodies into what they are today. Not even The Fixers remember what they looked like
      previously.
  
      “Are you happy doing this?” She said after a moment.
  
      I always hated that question because I always knew the answer and it would always disappoint
      the person who asked it.
  
      “What do you mean?”
  
      “I mean, are you still happy with the Fixers? I’ve asked before but you always brushed me off
      and I feel like it would be important for you to get that out.” I honestly had forgotten that she
      asked in the past. I figured now was a better time than any to come clean.
  
      “I hate that things aren’t perfect. I see people living these happy and wonderful lives and
      watching those lives get dashed in an instant destroys my soul every time. Fuck, I could’ve just
      lived a normal and happy life but nope, I had to have shitty parents and uncover some terrible
      secret of our existence. I want to give up, I wanna throw in the towel, really I do, I know I don’t
      often improve things, but I’m a scientist dammit, trial and error is a key part of my work, I have
      to keep trying to make things better, I have to keep going and see the end of this road. I can’t
      stop, no matter what. I want to make the most beautiful existence I can.” As I finished, her mass
      expanded and grew all over me, kind of like a blanket. From that blanket, emerged a being,
      Luna, I hadn’t seen her physical appearance in a while so I couldn’t hide my blush fast enough
      for her to get a good look. Worry weathered the few readable parts of her face.
  
      “Are you really sure you want this then? You’ve already taken on so much suffering and you’ll
      take on a lot more if you continue down this path.”
  
      I nodded in response and worry creased my weary brain. “Is that a dealbreaker for us?”
  
      The worry quickly slipped upward into a smile as she giggled. “Nothing could ever be a
      dealbreaker for me. You know that.”
  
      “Why are you so loyal to me even though I’m so violent? Why do you want to follow me down
      this terrible path? You know that separation tech is almost compl-” She suddenly slammed a fist
      next to my head and said in a terrifying growl. “Why… why do you still stay with me? I know you
      love me, but you don’t have to be here.”
  
      “Who else would be by your side… I don’t agree with you, but I believe in your ultimate goal…
      somewhat… So I want to be here… I want to see the beautiful existence you hope to make.”
  
      I smiled, relieved over likely nothing. I pulled her in for a hug with my one arm which she
      returned. She didn’t really understand the intimacy, but she knew it was important to me. “Thank
      you… so much for being in my life and trusting me. I love you.”
  
      She giggled again a bit more heartily, “I love you too.”
  
      Regardless, we moved on from the conversation and spent who knows how long talking about
      meaningless things as couples as old as us do, before sleep overtook me. Some hours later I
      awoke in the exact same position that I had found myself in, draped in my wife and sleeping on
      what I have now determined was the least comfortable rock on the field. I groggily woke up fully
      and said, “Ready Luna?” As I tugged out some relaxants and took a drag from the device.
  
      “Always.” Was her answer before she pulled herself back into me.
  
      Assessing the situation, I saw that one army on the western side of the valley was approaching
      me, and to call it an army was basically insulting armies everywhere. I mean, I had seen some
      pretty fucked up looking platoons and battalions in my army days, but this was just sad, no,
      worse than sad. There were probably 30-40 soldiers proper, three fourths of them were
      somewhere between halfway dead and on the door to death while the last quarter just had
      minor wounds, but irritated faces. The only similarity between each soldier was the confidence
      in their step, they were all very proud to be here and wouldn’t back down no matter what I tried.
      The only person who stood out was my target, the 362nd general who was covered head-to-toe
      in armor. The armor was scuffed and colored the most depressing gray possible, while also
      looking modern and functional, it would probably be impossible to cut or stab through the armor,
      blood weapons or not.
  
      As the army came close, I noted the absence of the other army as all 34 soldiers marched up to
      me. The general gave some signal to halt by tapping his boots against the dirt in a slow pattern.
      He then faced me, “Leave civilian, you don’t belong here.” He said with his voice being muffled
      by his helmet.
  
      “Neither do you.”
  
      He was good, he didn’t even appear a bit surprised. “What nonsense are you spewing? If you
      have business here then state it or leave!”
  
      “My business here is you. I’m here to kill you, you're not supposed to be here after all.”
      His soldiers started to get antsy and two tried approaching me which he quickly stopped with a
      loud stamp of his boot. Their reactions were, from my perspective, a bit weird. The soldiers
      didn’t seem questioning or curious, almost as if they implicitly understood that what I was saying
      was right. Although one voice stood out amongst the crowd, “What’s a [woman] hoping to do
      with just one arm?”
  
      After dealing with the commotion he turned back to me. “So what if I am?”
  
      “I don’t really feel like explaining it again, but I can’t allow you to be here.” I said pulling my
      sword out. “You're a danger to the people around you even if you don’t want to be, so I’m going
      to have to put you down now.”
  
      He stared for a second, and slowly put a hand on his sword which looked to be of a similar build
      to mine, just with a specific design meant to accentuate curves at the lower end of the blade that
      could easily catch a sword if you're looking for a disarm. “I’ve been here for a few days. Why did
      you wait until now?”
  
      “My policy is to give unfortunate people like you some extra time to enjoy your final days. It’s a
      few days left for you so I’m here now.”
  
      He nods, while looking stoically past me to whatever goal he has. “Then I guess I’ll just have to
      get rid of you. In order to continue serving my people.”
  
      It was such a stupid claim from my perspective that I started to howl with laughter, “Get rid of
      me, yeah I’d like to see that.” As I was finishing my laugh, I threw off a surprise airborne slice at
      him. He didn’t even fully unsheathe his sword before he blocked it, all the blood from my slash
      flowing onto his sword and up into his gloved hands, which I only now noticed were a lot more
      sophisticated than I would have expected. No doubt his gauntlets were inside of those gloves
      which took away another option for taking him down. They were also probably more
      complicated and more powerful than usual so yeah this was gonna suck.
  
      Now both of our swords were drawn and before I could make another move, he made a
      horizontal slice that was way bigger than other blood slices I had seen before. I didn’t want to
      rely on blocking this time so I threw myself onto the ground faceup to watch the slice fly by me.
      As it flew by I asked myself. Was it faster than usual? Yes, it most definitely was.
  
      “Soldiers, don’t worry about them, I can handle them myself.” To which they all responded with
      nods and salutes as they sent their fearless leader off to battle.
  
      As I kicked myself up off the floor, I saw that he hoisted his shield between me and him which
      was simply a slab of metal with an insignia on the center. However, it was impossible to
      determine any of the details of the insignia due to how smudged, dirty, and scratched up the
      entire shield was. It was probably painted on decades ago. “For the people of Pomfor, you must
      be killed civilian!” He said as he started to charge me, shield raised.
  
      I wasn’t dumb enough to hit him with more blood to give him more ammunition so instead I ran
      and jumped onto the upper half of the shield causing the bottom half to tip up as I leaned my
      weight down on top of him. He tried going for a stab, making sure to keep just enough of the
      blade close enough for him to not lose balance which was the wrong move because it allowed
      me to roll off the shield away from the stab, causing him to lose balance anyway. This gave me
      the exact opportunity I needed to see how a blood slash did at close quarters against his armor
      and I was gravely disappointed when not even a scratch remained on the center of his
      chestpiece.
  
      He recovered immediately after the slash and already had his shield up for his next attack,
      despite me putting distance between the two of us. Blood started to burst out of the center of his
      shield in all directions, coating the entire front as he came at me. He then started pulling his arm
      back for another attack, which was punctuated by the blood on his shield shooting out in all
      directions like spikes. Without much option due to how spread out the spikes were, I shielded
      my upper body against the spikes with a wide improvised blood shield that unfortunately did
      nothing to protect my lower body. Taking on about 14 spikes to the legs, I had no time to recover
      as he swung his sword to my side, which I was able to block by pushing forward with the tip of
      the blade pointed down. Luckily, he did not expect me to be able to react to his follow up swing
      meaning I was not within arms reach of him and thus outside his sword range. Before he could
      drop his sword or shield and reach for a dagger, I got in close, wrapped my arm around his
      shield arm and yanked his arm upward just above the elbow. It didn’t take long for the sound of
      bone cracking to pop out of his elbow and not long after for the sounds of flesh tearing to come
      from his armor as the bone above his elbow started to rip out of his body. It didn’t take long for
      him to start screaming loudly or for him to drop his sword and shield. As the bone finally popped
      out, I let go and backed off, watching him drop his knees to the ground in agony.
  
      As I reached down to pull his chest piece off, he grabbed his sword with his spare arm and
      swung at me. I was only able to narrowly dodge the swing. As he stood up he backed off his
      soldiers, who were now very pissed, again before turning back to face me. As he did so the
      sound of flesh weaving back into place came out from his arm and shortly after, he was easily
      able to bend his arm back into place. Honestly, I had been expecting worse at this point, maybe
      it was time to resort to something else.
  
      Taking his sword in both hands, he came in for another attack but hesitated when Luna started
      to crawl out of my stump. No additional arm came out, instead a tendril slithered down to the
      ground and shot towards him, yanking his leg out from under him, causing him to land on his
      ass. I quickly pulled out my own revolver and looked at the side as the ammunition type flashed
      up next to the revolver in bright blue text. The “Hollow” text that floated right next to the gun
      spun like a slot machine to “Buckshot” as the weight of the revolver subtly shifted. I walked up to
      the General and aimed at the seams of his armor before firing. Tiny specks of blood hardened
      as they absorbed each pellet and I clicked my tongue in anger. Luna’s tendrils listened to my
      command and kept him restrained to the ground, causing his wrists and ankles to shatter as he
      cried out in agony, which would have allowed me the perfect opportunity to rip his armor off and
      just stab him, but a swipe of steel came from behind me forcing me to duck and roll away.
  
      The biggest Upper I had ever seen with way too many swords held in makeshift holsters was my
      new assailant, standing behind her were seven other beaten up Upper who were definitely not
      in fighting shape. Despite that she still stood strong at the front of the pack, shoring them all up
      for what she probably expected would be his final battle. “Why are you trying to kill my quarry?”
      She said to me threateningly.
  
      “Just have to, it’s not really your business. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to-” She suddenly
      swung at me again, and yeah I can take care of myself but I hadn’t quite gotten used to not
      having to rely on the Blood Gauntlet to help me in a fight so I blocked the swing rawly and
      poorly which unsurprisingly swung my sword away. Now I was standing there like an idiot
      watching as she prepared a downward swing with her massive jagged blade. And yeah Luna
      could have protected me since I could see the attack but some other dumb idea popped into my
      head. Just as she stepped forward and swung downward I kneeled down on one foot and lifted
      the other straight into the air, the sole pointing towards the sky about where I was hoping the
      blade would land and I closed my eyes and just prayed that this would work. Which it did. I felt a
      massive force push down on my boots aligned with a loud clang and as I opened my eyes I saw
      the results of my actions. After less than a second, I swung the blade off my foot and made a
      beeline for my sword before running up to the 362nd general.
      
      He was still recovering and kneeled to the ground as whatever Blood Weapon he had healed his
      wrists and ankles. Before he could react or grab his sword, I grabbed his chestplate by the
      neckline and yanked it off in one strong pull before plunging my sword through his heart and out
      the other side of his armor. He tried to take any last breaths he could, tried to pull the sword out,
      tried to push the blood back into his wounds, tried to cry for help, tried to cry, nothing worked as
      he collapsed to the ground. Not a single noise went out across the landscape as the 362nd
      general breathed his last.
  
  

  
      My job was done, but uhhh it seemed one person wasn’t happy with that. The giant general of
      the other army slowly approached me.
  
      “You beast! Do you understand exactly what you have done?”
  
      “I don’t really care what I just did, now I hope you're gonna be smart and walk away unlike my
      other victims.” Clearly the threat didn’t have much effect on her as her anger spiked and she
      charged at me. She was about the only person on the field who wasn’t stunned by the other
      general’s sudden death, which made finishing the job easier. This time I actually managed to
      block her swings with the use of the Blood Gauntlet, she was kinda oafish with her swings and
      really was only threatening due to how much strength she had rather than how she used it.
  
      “Why did you kill such a good soldier?” She yelled between swings.
  
      “I don’t have to explain myself to a schmuck like you. So why the hell don’t you just get on with
      your life and leave me the hell alone!” I wanted to lob more insults at her, maybe egg her on a
      little more, but I honestly knew so little about her that I couldn’t come up with anything clever.
  
      For some reason, a slight calm came over her as she stopped her assault. “You're right.” She
      said with a relaxed tone I couldn’t have imagined coming from her mouth. “All I have to do is kill
      you, move onto his army, then his country.” She took a deep breath through her nose that she
      held for seven seconds with eyes closed, before releasing the breath through her mouth,
      opening her eyes as she finally finished taking her breath. And with a new resolve she began
      another attack that put a giant devilish smile on my face.
  
      She began by stabbing her sword at me, with a little twist that forced me to duck down, which
      she clearly anticipated as she dropped her sword and took another one out from the dozen
      holsters she had. She swung low this time, making sure to backpedal, which was made
      pointless when the next dumb idea in my head wormed its way to the surface. Hard spikes of
      blood shot out of the soles of my foot, launching me into the air. She reached up to try and grab
      me with her right arm, which I stabbed with my sword, making sure not to hold onto it as I
      dropped to her side. If she was affected by the stab, she didn’t show it much as she gritted her
      teeth and held onto her sword as she tried to kick me with her closest leg which I simply dodged
      out of the way with a combat roll, causing me to end up behind her. I began to climb up the back
      of her legs, but I had already figured out that I would have to think ahead, which was why I
      quickly jumped off before she threw her back to the ground so she could smash me. She was on
      one knee before I slowly walked over to take her sword out of her hand, which actually did get a
      yelp out of her.
  
      Now I was getting a bit too much into this as I slashed both of her legs before Luna swamped
      below my feet giving me a boost to get a bite out of the area between her shoulder and her
      neck. The flesh that seeped down my throat was familiar and enriching, it soothed my soul and
      also filled my stomach with true beauty. However, the taste's familiarity was what will always be
      burned into my memories.
  
      As I fell back and rolled across the ground ending up on my hands and knees, I encompassed
      Luna across my entire body, expanding my mass to equal the Upper general. By the time I had
      fully formed, I looked like a beastly version of Luna’s humanoid form, just with more teeth and
      eyes. As I stood before her, we clashed, hands locked and heads butted together as we tried to
      throw the other off balance.
  
      She laughed as she smiled “Don’t you realize what you’ve done to his people? Their entire
      nation is doomed. It’s all ripe for me to take it all.”
  
      My voice came out in response as a deep angry sound, “What nation? There's nothing left for
      any of you.”
  
      “A nation is its people and I’ll finally get to slaughter them all once I’m done with you!”
  
      “I’ve SEEN the people of this land with my own eyes, their all husks, dead on the inside. There.
      Is. Nothing. Left. You old fuck!”
  
      “Y-your a foreign person and yet you try to tell me tha-”
  
      I was done with all the questions as I shoved her to the ground. As I loomed over her, spikes
      protruded from Luna’s body to pin her in place. I made sure to savor her painful blood curdling
      screams. “There is nothing left here. You are fighting over a dead world.”
  
      She stifled his screams as much as she could in defiance, clearly still holding onto the last bit of
      resolve she had. “E-even then, this land is mine by birthright. You can’t stop me from taking it-”
      She resumed the music as a makeshift tongue lengthened out of my enlarged mouth and tore
      off one of her ears. I bent down to whisper with my devilish grin on my face. “Then you will have
      nothing.”
  
      My mouth and tongue scavenged what we could from her body without mortally wounding her. A
      finger, a bit of jaw, a portion of her stomach, some of her legs. It was simply divine, the entire
      experience. Hearing the screams of terror as we tore this beast apart, limb from limb without
      killing her. The violence, despite my better nature, brings me joy in my more pleasant thoughts.
  
      As I drifted back up to take one last look at my feast, I saw the fear in her face and sympathy
      washed over me. She was genuinely afraid, an emotion I had never seen from any of the people
      fighting in this world. The words of 0001 constantly absolved me of any guilt as I firmly believed
      and was proven over and over again that these people deserve no mercy. But now, regret
      washed over me, completely consuming me and making Luna regress back into the confines
      my body provides her. As tears, that would have tasted delicious a moment ago, poured down
      his face, he asked, “Then what do I do?”
  
      “Stop! Stop killing people! Stop hurting them! Stop letting your soldiers butcher them for fun!
      Stop letting terrible things happen! Stop trying to use violence to face a dream that isn’t even
      real anymore! Just fucking stop, before you get any more reason to regret your choices! Just
      stop, trying to win a war that’s doomed!” As I finished the statement she laid there stunned as
      my body returned to my normal.
  
      I got off of her and started walking towards the 362nd general to finally finish this shit
      assignment. As I looked back at the broken person who was struggling to sit upright, she waved
      off both armies who were way too quick to disperse after having seen their generals get their
      shit rocked.
  
      I got to the 362nd general’s corpse and noticed it was still convulsing which probably shouldn’t
      be happening from my vast experiences with corpses. Taking a moment to grab my sword from
      across the field, I came back to take his helmet off and shove the blade through his skull,
      stopping the convulsions instantly. After taking the blade out I took out a large matchbook from
      my pocket, along with one of the metallic and mechanical matches inside the matchbook. I still
      think it’s kinda stupid they customize these based on where we come from, but they put in a lot
      of effort to make these look good so I don’t complain too much.
  
      I lit the match against the metal of my sword and instantly flicked it onto the general’s corpse.
      Instantly a green (which was the brightest color I had seen all week) flame encompassed his
      body and burned him to less than ashes. I always thought this view was beautiful, watching my
      objective burn away always gave me a moment of reprieve that I desperately needed. It was like
      coming home to your wife for a long weekend after a rough day in the office. And then the
      moment was gone as his corpse and the green flames whistled away and split forever taking all
      of the atoms and particles that made him him scattered to the void.
  
      I turned back to see the other general, who was staring at the ground, pondering. I felt sorry for,
      well a lot of things really at this point but I especially felt bad for her at this moment. So I figured
      I’d walk over and give a little advice before I ditched her sorry ass.
  
      I put a hand on her shoulder (although it was the one that was missing a chunk so apologies)
      and unlike my last time I gave comforting words, gave ones that I believed in. “No matter how
      harsh they are, time heals all wounds.” I then turned around and walked away.
  
      I met up with Lyfer and Vwulf with no problems, the two were now happily married and had
      waited less than an hour for me to get back and were happy to share all the details of their
      ceremony. I regaled them with the tale of my conquering of both generals across our week long
      trip back which was decidedly more tame than our last trip, and returned them safe and sound
      within a little less than a week's worth of travel time. It took only a few hours of meandering and
      kissing my wife for me to get back to the Crack that I came in from, all with the satisfaction of
      another mission well done.
  
  

  
      I should say before I close out this journal that I’m thankful for the 33 out of my 36 therapists
      and psychologists who recommended I continue writing journals ever since I met Luna. Back
      then I did it to shut the doctors up, but now I find it works as a decent way to unwind when
      nothing else really gets me going. I know I’m late to writing this down by… damn that’s a lot of
      years, because my only given reason was that nightmare at the start of chapter 4, but I’m still
      glad I got around to finishing this one. Also I checked up on Lyfer and Vwulf a few years after
      our departure and they’re both doing just fine, living with their father while riding out the storm of
      whatever is going down. I didn’t approach them though, I didn't want to ruin their good lives. Not
      that talking to them now would matter since they're long dead. Anyway, I’m gonna go writhe in
      my goop wife and my new wife for a while and enjoy the shit out of myself. Ta-ta. Oh yeah, and
      to the R&D guys who improved the armored boots I wore on the mission, you guys are the best.
      I have literally refused to take them off besides when going to sleep.
  
  

  
      Wow, this took a while. I originally came up with the idea for this story and some scenes back in
      mid-September 2023 and am writing these notes after the rough draft in Mid-April 2024 (yikes, I
      have good scheduling and good ADHD meds). I also want to admit that I was kind of massively
      disappointed in this story. The theme was about a depression-like feeling I had throughout
      college and some of my post-college months where I could do my necessary work for the day
      but not much else and had very little free time due to how rough engineering school was for a
      neurodivergent gal like me. It’s kind of hard to explain and I guess I once encountered the term
      “functional depression” to describe it, but I wanted to convey that feeling with this story, the
      feeling of knowing what needs to be done to improve your life and being capable of doing it but
      not knowing what to do to achieve those improvements, but I felt like those feelings didn’t come
      through. In the end, I felt like the emotions and themes were way too scattered, I threw out too
      many ideas and I feel like I got lost in the mess of them, causing it to come out as an incoherent
      unconnected mess. I also felt like I could’ve created more ideas which I simultaneously feel is a
      bad idea and a good idea depending on how well I would have executed it, but my instincts tell
      me that with my scattered writing process it will probably just make the entire story more messy.
      I think the two issues were time diluting my ideas and motivation and meeting my girlfriend
      between short stories who single-handedly took away the feeling I had that inspired me to write
      this story (not that that’s a bad thing). If anything, it’s shown me the importance of focusing
      down on my writings and how I should try not to spread myself too thin. I also got to show off
      Alex’s and Luna’s dynamic even if I wrote it to be more subtle. Also, I got to set a few more
      things up for future stories, you might even see a familiar name when I drop the next story in 11
      months. My next short story, which is already in the works because ADHD makes me very
      focused definitely, is definitely a lot more focused on a single idea like my first story and it’s also
      gonna be a bit shorter so I hope I’ll finally drop something I can be very proud of. Welp, that’s
      about all I wanted to say, thanks for taking the time to read my silly little doomed yuri and I hope
      your day is wonderful.
  
      Also thanks to my girlfriend for giving me the motivation to write and finish this by being the
      awesomest person on this planet.
  
  

  
      Wow, reading the first set of Author’s Notes back makes me kinda sad. I was so young and
      inexperienced back then lol. But now, I do kind of have a more positive outlook on the story. It
      definitely was an experience I needed to get better as a writer, to try things out and watch them
      wither away and die like that houseplant you got really sad about dying when you first moved
      out of your parents house. Ultimately, I only reworked some of the dialogue for consistency and
      to keep a better flow, but other than that I think I’ll keep this version as is as a reminder that it’s
      okay to fuck up. Maybe if I get some grand epiphanies I may do a total rewrite, but that’ll be it’s
      own thing. Anyway I think that’s it by
  
      Point of Entry