Syanic Earth: Worldwide Cataclysm

Chapter 8: The Saberdome Directive

"So, Elysia," Shien smiled. "How do you feel now?"

"I never shared my life story like this before," Elysia leaned on the lake's railing. "My caretaker, Master Fermato was the only one who knew."

"Do you feel free?"

"Actually... yes."

"Now you see why we wanted you share your story?"

"I guess."

"So, from what I got, your family was enslaved by the Russian High Envoy. Your parents sacrificed themselves to sneak you out. Those events led you to hook up with the Waxing Sickle to cure that loneliness, but soon they asked you to kill those kids, and you did because you feared of being expelled."

Elysia hugged her hands on herself.

"Elysia. First, I'm sorry you had to go through things like that," Shien stroked her shoulder. "And now, I understand why you're the way you are."

"Shien, I honestly wish I could go back in time and undo what I did. Those kids would be alive if I didn't make that bad choice."

"I know, but what's done is done. You killed those kids to be accepted in a family. It's something that's not easily forgiven, and I can't imagine what it's like for you to have guilt for something like that. But I think there's two lessons I can tell you to help you change and make better choices in the future."

"Okay."

"One. Your Waxing Sickle thugs accepted you as part of their group if you did what they ask. Good friends don't put a price for friendship. It's important to surround yourself with the right people. Friends who both genuinely care for you and do the right thing. I know it sucks to be lonely, but it's better to be alone than to hang out with people who hurt others."

Elysia nodded.

"Second. Never let a group's will override your decision to do the right thing. Just because everyone else does something doesn't mean it's correct. You should be your own judge instead of blindly following a group."

"Those lessons... mean a lot. Only if someone told them to me earlier in my life."

"I understand you didn't have anyone to tell you that, but hey! I'm telling you now! Calice told me they're important aspects young people like us should be aware of. Because we don't like to be alone, we try to hook ourselves with a group as fast as possible, even if its a bad group. She said teens would sometimes join bullies and participate in their bullying activities to be accepted."

"I see. And who's Calice?"

"She's another friend of ours. Calice is a social worker. She's great in helping young adults live healthy social lives and cope with stuff like this!" 

"Wow. That's nice. I'd love to meet her sometime."

"I think you two would get along!" Shien smiled. "So, what will you do?"

"Hmm?" Elysia twitched her Vulpi ears.

"Now, you know the lessons. Will you change from your mistake, and make the right choices in the future?"

As Elysia looked at Shien's eyes sparkling with positive energy, Shien made a smile that drove sadness away.

"I... want to change..." Elysia wagged her Vulpi tail. 

"Say it with confidence!" Shien flew his arms up and down.

"Uh! I want to change!"

"Awesomeness!" Shien jumped. 

"By confronting your misdeed, you now possess the opportunity to change," Phoenicia blinked her cybernetic eyes.

"You understand emotions?"

"Of course! I am programmed with a level of understanding regarding people's emotions. And I did learn from Calice and the little Niang."

"What did you just call me?" Shien intensely looked at the droid girl.

"Little Niang!"

"Come here, you tin can!"

"I find that quite slanderous, shortie!"

The two stood in front of each other, head to head.

"This is your 27th attempt to hopelessly challenge my height," Phoenicia smiled.

Elysia placed her hand on her mouth, trying to hold her laughter as her eyeballs moved up and down to see the obvious height difference between the two.

"Is it me?" Shien looked at Elysia. "Or do I sense eyes measuring my height?"

"It's logical to say that everyone measures your quaint height with their sense of sight!" Phoenicia giggled.

"Care to say that again, you metal girl?"

"Shien! Look!" Phoenicia pointed to the sky. "I spot a bird!"

"A bird? A bird!" Shien turned his head to the sky with excitement. "Where's the cute puffy?"

Phoenicia gave Shien a noogie. Shien flailed his arms up and down, trying to escape.

"He actually fell for that?" Elysia's jaw dropped.

"Wow, that was easy!" Phoenicia winked. "And I recall that one of the lessons of this world I told you as your guide was to never lay eyes away from your enemies!"

"Grrr! Shut up! You said there was a bird!"

"Elysia, I highly encourage you to exploit Shien's weakness as well! Little Shien takes pleasure in being caressed on his bird-brained head!"

"What? That's not true! You all caress me to ridicule my height and looks!"

"I find it amusing that our favorite vertically challenged master of martial arts has a cute side!"

Phoenicia responded by rubbing her hard fist on Shien's hair. Elysia laughed as she felt free from her past for the first time. Shien and the android girl paused their commotion to observe Elysia in happiness.

"Guys," Elysia walked up to the two. "I... I want to say... uh... thank you. Thank you all for being my first real friends."

"No problem, Elysia!" Shien grinned, giving the Vulpi girl a huge hug.

"Ah! My eccentric people!" The three heard a voice. " There you all are! Your friends have quite the audacity to leave us from a heartwarming hug party?"

"Enshiron?" Shien let Elysia go. "Oh, heyo, guys!"

Naivern and Ritom walked behind Enshiron. The three emerged from Tetrachrome's streets, where the commotion was much more quiet compared to earlier.

"Sup, pals?" Naivern smiled. "Woah! Having a party without me?"

"How did you find us?" Shien asked.

"Ah, chillax," Ritom danced to the front. "We happened to run into my Ruddigus pal and his old geezer back there. They were kind enough to let your favorite mechanic look for all of ya! Ritom, the heroic mechanic, jostled his way through the intense crowd to search for the people he cares about!"

"Technically, dude," Naivern raised an eyebrow. "Mohawk man wanted to choke you first for cheating."

"Shhh! Relax, my loud girl!"

"And boy, you guys should've seen that old man play whack a Ritom with his cane!"

"Be quiet, Naivern! You're ruining the mechanic's glorifying moment with your big musical mouth!"

"And that, my friends!" Enshiron declared. "That was the wondrous story of our heroic mechanic!"

"Not you too, Enshiron! You're supposed to help me!"

The g**g chuckled as Ritom popped a vein from his forehead.

"Guys," Shien gestured to Elysia. "This is Elysia! She's become our new friend!"

"Yo! This is awesome!" Naivern shouted.

"And the audience applauses in awe of Elysia's grand entrance to the stage!" Enshiron bowed.

"Hey, Elysia girl," Ritom shook hands with her. "I am Ritom, your favorite mechanic!"

"Elysia, nice to meet you," Elysia smiled.

"You okay now? We were kinda concerned about you back there at the bistro."

"Oh! Yes, I'm better. Shien and Phoenicia helped me. Thank you."

"Great! Remember," Ritom poked Elysia's arm. "If you need a mechanic, give me a call! Relax, and let me do the work!"

"Uh, okay?" Elysia awkwardly replied as she saw Ritom raising his eyebrows as he leaned on her.

"Ritom," Phoenicia said. "Your flirting methods still need a significant amount of improvement."

"Chillax, my droid gal! I am improving every day!" Ritom gestured.

"Judging by all of your previous encounters with females that I have analyzed other than our friends, I find that statement quite contradictory based on all 17 unfavorable outcomes."

"Ooo! Roasted!" Naivern shouted.

"And that's what some call a devastating sucker punch between the legs!" Enshiron bowed.

Ritom covered his ears as the others giggled.

"No worries, our wonderful mechanic!" Enshiron assured Ritom. "You must never give up on your effortful methods to attract a fair maiden!"

Shien and Naivern patted Ritom on the back.

"Dude," Naivern playfully said, elbowing Ritom. "You got us, gals! Right? You could practice, eh? Eh?"

"I do all the time, loud girl," Ritom rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so now that our g**g is officially back together," Enshiron cleared his throat loudly as the g**g became quiet. "May I ask what we could do since an invasion is coming to America along with the wonderful fact that we are sitting ducks in a game?"

"Oh no!" Shien scrolled through his menu. "My mom! I am so dumb! How could I forget?"

"Um, relax, man," Ritom said. "About that-"

Shien selected his mom's contact only to receive a scrambling sound.

"Mom! Mom! Are you there?" Shien shouted.

"Well, Shien," Naivern began. "Yeah, so heterochromia dude wasn't kidding when he said all UICA devices are down."

"What?" Shien swiped his screen away. "It can't be!"

"We tried to call my older brother," Ritom added. "But we all received a scramble too."

"No, it can't be," Shien knelt. "Please be safe, mom. I love you so much. I promised that I would stay by your side until the end of time."

Elysia looked at Shien, whose eyes sparkled with water. She felt compassion that she never felt before for a human. When Naivern and Ritom sat close to Shien to comfort him, Elysia knelt in front of Shien, wiping his tears with the handkerchief Shien gave her. The Vulpi girl never did anything like this for a human, but for the first time, she placed the difference aside. Elysia was puzzled by the change, but she didn't care.

"Hey," Elysia spoke. "I am sure she will be okay. We are in this together. You said that's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah," Shien nodded. "But now, Enshiron, I don't think we can do much since we can't help ourselves nor communicate with anyone outside."

Phoenicia's two antenna hairs stood on their ends with rapid vibration.

"Yo, Phoenicia?" Naivern asked as the g**g stood up. "Ya good?"

"I am sensing a fragmented message of various frequencies," The droid girl said.

"Message?" Shien stood next to Phoenicia. "From who?"

"Unknown."

"What does it say?"

"It's in scattered pieces."

"Can we view it by any chance?" Ritom asked.

"Negative. The pieces are encrypted and highly disorganized, but I am currently attempting to understand such a curious message."

The droid girl's pupils changed into dark blue circular loading symbols.

"Processing... processing..." Phoenicia kept on saying. "Organizing fragmented frequencies..."

Phoenicia sat down with the g**g near the railings of the Tyrminal Lake, thinking deeply as her two antenna hairs wiggled in different directions.

"Commander... commander lead... in training must... must lead..." Phoenicia read. "Lead... Saberdome...lead... get players...Saberdome... lead to Saberdome... beat... must beat... defeat game...coming... UICA... UICA coming... come... to help... "

Phoenicia's pupils returned to normal.

"Huh?" Ritom scratched his head in confusion. "That's it?"

"Yes. Whoever sent this mysterious message must have intentions of helping you players escape."

"Hmm," Enshiron placed his hand on his chin.

"The message said something of the UICA helping! I told you all!" Ritom clapped his hands together. "The UICA won't trap us like that! Told you so! Ha! In your faces!"

"Woah! Easy, man," Naivern gestured. "We never judged that the UICA was definitely behind this."

"Indeed," Enshiron nodded. "I never meant to question the UICA like that, our mechanic, but I thought it would still be wise to consider all possibilities even if it's a mere one percent chance."

"What about the UICA?" Shien tilted his head.

"Ah, Shien, my quaint boy. As we decided to search for you three, we were peacefully discussing the small possibility that the UICA purposefully entrapped us like the so dashing face of China declared. Of course, our mechanic didn't seem to enjoy our splendid inquisitiveness."

"I see, but my mom would never allow the UICA to do something like that."

"Don't forget, Magnus may be rough with people," Ritom added. "But he's not that rough to entrap a bunch of innocent people in here!"

"Hmmm, true," Naivern placed her hand on her chin. "Honestly, I don't think it's gonna help much if we keep on debating about this junk like a bunch of screwballs. It's not going anywhere. Let's think about what else that kooky message is saying. Maybe we could do something!"

After Shien nodded, the g**g then took some time to think about the strange message.

"I thought I remembered that the message talked about the players meeting at the Saberdome Arena," Elysia said.

"Yes," Phoenicia acknowledged. "I infer that the messenger wants the players to meet there for a reason."

"Eey! Now that's what I call a good start," Naivern snapped her finger. "Shall we head to the arena then? Think it's better than sitting here being useless."

"Perhaps, we would find some fruitful answers there," Enshiron said.

"Welp, following the message to go to the Saberdome is probably all we can do for now," Ritom replied.

"It's worth a shot," Shien nodded. "I just hope my mom's okay."

"My dude," Naivern patted Shien on his shoulder. "Your mom was the Desert Cardinal, right? I am sure she's just fine!"

"Yeah. I just hope we know what to do, and what's going on," Shien sighed.

The group left the Tyrminal Lake across the streets of Tetrachrome to the Saberdome Arena located at the opposite end of the city.

"Do not fret, for here we happy few walk through the valley of fire breathing dragons as awesome heroes on a breathtaking quest!" Enshiron shouted with his actor's voice, making the g**g smile over their confusion. "The knights in shining armor and wondrous damsels of glowing beauty shall vanquish the very darkness! Onward, my fellow companions!"