Ascenders Rift

Currently, a group of individuals was standing at the corner, gazing towards the location the fight had occurred. These people wore dark robes with odd helmets that covered their faces.

Suddenly, one of them looked at the person on their right and spoke, "It would seem that they"re stronger than those Upper Elder"s had antic.i.p.ated, huhu… they should have just left it to our unit instead of sending a lowly crew to hand such affairs."

The person at the side had a slenderer build like that of a woman"s, when they replied a charming voice sounded, "Master is right, but what can we do? They always like to have the last say in anything, even choosing to partner up with that fellow, why make such a foolish move?"

The man called Master shook his head and spoke in a cold tone, "Such matters aren"t for us to decide, in the end, we only need to focus on doing our job, for now, leave all that decision making and plotting to the likes of those Upper Elders. Remember, unlike them, our goals are much different and when the time comes, we"ll naturally make our stand..."

"Mm," The female replied with a low sound.

At this time, the third person who remained silent spoke, "Master, now that we"d processed here, what should we do? Are we to make an a.s.sault?"

The Master chuckled and spoke, "No, we leave it to them to make their choices, tomorrow is sure to be an interesting day, let us stay on the side of the observers for now..."

"Understood..." The other two replied, as, after a short while, the trio had faded from this district. 

By this time, Evan, Layla, Joe, and the others had already arrived back in their temporary residence. They each got something to eat, and Breya went off to handle her tasks, leaving only Joe and the others to listen to Evan"s description of the information he gleaned.

As they listened to his words, Rick couldn"t help but frown as he spoke, "Evan, so you"re saying that even this captain fellow had no idea of the true upper command, and was merely a p.a.w.n?"

Joe and the others also felt annoyed; they looked at Evan, awaiting his answers. Evan shook his head and replied, "I"m afraid so, but even if he was a p.a.w.n, he did know quite a few interesting bits. More precisely, he knew of their agendas, which is some secretive ambition bent around human evolution."

"Hmm? You mean to say that they"re trying to find a way to advance their current mutated state?" Rick asked with puzzled eyes.

Evan nodded and replied, "Correct, while I can"t say for certain that they have anything related to this realm"s Body s.h.i.+fters. Based on the captain"s perspective, their methods are purely for the benefits of a certain few, known as Upper Elders."

Layla looked at Evan and asked, "Evan, did you find their organization"s name?"

Evan shook his head and replied, "No, but we can be sure that they are most likely the culprits of those vanis.h.i.+ng pub incidents Rick mentioned before."

Rick narrowed his eyes as he spoke, "You mean what the articles t.i.tled as the Anti Human Faction..."

Evan nodded and replied, "Yes, very secretive that not even their captains know of their underground hideaways whereabouts, it would seem that now we might have a little troublesome force to deal with in our time training in this s.p.a.ce."

Rick"s eyes also flashed when he heard this, he knew that they would have to do a little extra research to root them out, but this was only if the other party still tries to hinder them. 

Joe, who was silent for a while, spoke in question, "Evan, I"ve meant to ask, but don"t you think that the evolution and mutation of this world was quite strange."

Evan promptly replied, "Yes, it was a bit puzzling to me when I heard those words from that unfamiliar Plant Lifeform, I also found that journal entry from the Origin Lab to be a bit odd. As you"ve already noticed, this world"s calamity might not have had anything to do with a previous Ascenders Rift. Instead, their dangers might have been an action brought upon by themselves..."

Rick remained silent for a while, as did Layla and Emilia, Joe"s eyes flashed when looked at Evan and spoke, "Right, I did notice that those mutant lifeforms from that lab were quite strange, I also had a bad feeling about it in my gut..."

"Indeed, I felt the same way; I could sense the anguish of their souls, a mixture of the chaos of grief..." Layla added with a sad recollective look.

Evan nodded at their words, he was about to speak, but Emilia at this time spoke with a hint of hesitancy. 

"E-Everyone, there"s something much more dangerous..." Emilia said with deep eyes.

Joe and the others looked at her with solemn looks, as Evan did the same but spoke, "Hmm, you"re referring to that hidden lifeform of that Origin Lab?"

Emilia"s eyes showed a trace of fear as she spoke, "Yes, I can"t recall correctly, but it was able to disable my senses, and even hinder the spirits. That was why it was able to administer whatever strange injection it used in my body. I... I"m afraid that we shouldn"t underestimate it in the slightest and view it as a similar level of threat comparable to the Mother Breed."

"It"s that dangerous... well s.h.i.+t, I didn"t think it was such a terrifying threat," Joe said in surprise.

Evan looked at him and spoke, "Why did you think I let us retreat at that time? I had felt its presence when I had gone to pick up Emilia, we were being watched, but even so, I still couldn"t clearly pinpoint its location, if it even wanted it could have easily picked us off one by one..."

"What? How terrible?" Everyone other than Emilia said as they only now knew of the danger that had narrowly avoided.

Layla looked at Evan and spoke, "E-Evan, was this creature also a major threat during "that" time?"

Rick and the others made an odd look when they heard her words, Evan knew what she meant by "that time," he replied, "No, it"s an entirely different creature that I"ve never seen or heard of before, maybe it was always there but had never chosen to show itself. However, one thing is certain, with that unknown Lifeform, along with these odd Body s.h.i.+fters of this hidden s.p.a.ce, this time is already shaping up to be very different from the last time." 

Layla had a grim look on her face as she heard those words, Joe and the others made puzzled looks not knowing what they meant.

Joe asked, "Hey man, can you stop speaking so cryptic all the time? I don"t have a clue what you and Layla are talking about, what do you mean by this time and last time?"

Rick also made a strange look as he stared at Evan, as did Emilia, and Breya, who was working on extracting the data, partly focusing on their conversation.

Layla was a bit hesitant, she was about to say something, but Evan looked at her and spoke, "It"s okay Layla, I"ll do it... they should be ready now..."

Rick frowned as he heard this, he looked at Evan and questions, "What"s all this mysteriousness? Hurry and get on with it!"

Evan chuckled as he glanced at everyone and took a deep breath before speaking, "Do you all want to know why I know so many secrets? Are you puzzled by why I could tell you of a calamity that should have been beyond common knowledge? Why I know so much about a world no one has ever been to by all rights?"

Rick and the others remained silent as they looked at him with beaming eyes that shone with curiosity; they didn"t even dare to breathe too loudly so as not to miss any details.

As Evan saw them in such a state, he smirked and spoke playfully, "I"ll tell you all in the future..."

When Joe and the others heard, their nerve-racking expression soon changed, becoming filled with anger as they shouted, "Evan!"

"Hahaha! Alright! I"ll talk, sheesh, I was only trying to lighten the mood a bit," Evan said with a laugh before calming down.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d..." Joe and Rick thought as if they were now on the same wavelength, Layla giggled at this while Emilia and the distant Breya had odd looks in their eyes.

Evan looked at them with a stern look as he spoke again, "It"s simple; this is because I have experienced it all before..."

When Joe, Rick, and the others heard this, their eyes widened as their mouths opened in shock and disbelief. It is evident from their expressions that they didn"t buy his words, but not long after, they each stared at Evan deeply as he began to tell them of a story from a life they never knew... a tale many years in the far off future... 

***

Author"s Note:

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Ascenders Rift -