"I uh, don't know what I'm supposed to be trying to do here?" Yuji said, his hands still connected to the crystal fragment in front of him. They were sitting on the circular bench that ran all the way around the Domain Crystal, which had over a dozen raised tablets in front of the bench with crystal fragments placed in them.

  "Remember what you did with that organic wall in your Soul Realm? Do the same thing here, and tell me if you feel anything. Anything at all. Because I keep feeling little spikes of energy here and there, it's definitely still trying to connect to something."

  "Connect to what exactly? I know the Archives connect to the central network that's far away from here, but what do these Domain Crystals connect to?"

  Sarah narrowed her eyes at the Domain Crystal, "I... Don't know. I never actually thought about it before? It kind of sounds dumb now that I say it out loud, but I don't think I've ever run into anyone who wondered how these crystals operated. All we knew was that they were the core part of any region, and they played a vital role in so many different things."

  He wanted to ask what things, but he was already being flooded with too much new and weird information as it was.

  This has been a wild three days...

  Just then, Yuji felt a tiny spike of energy through the crystal.

  "There! I felt something just now. It really was just like that organic wall. So it's using mana then?"

  "No, it's ether, the original compound that mana is created from. " She continued, "Do something for me, Yuji. When you feel the next spike, try to bring up your template."

  "But if you saw it earlier, doesn't that mean that the template is visible to others? There's a ton of people here, and I really don't want anyone to know I'm an Awakened."

  "You've got your hood up, and they're all doing other things anyway. And if it does appear, just dismiss it the second it pops up. You left it mostly transparent, and the lighting on this part of the bench is abysmal. So it'll be fine! I just need to see if it works for you too."

  "'Too'? Your template appeared?"

  Sarah laughed, "See? You didn't even notice and you're right next to me!"

  "... Alright, alright. I'll do it."

  Yuji waited for about forty seconds before the energy inside the crystal spiked again, and immediately his template appeared in front of him as he attempted to summon it. He dismissed it right away as she suggested, but there were a few reasons he really wanted to stay connected to it.

  "What the hell was that? It was like I had double vision, and in the other sight I could see the entire region around us from far above in the sky."

  "Hehe, that's because nobody owns this crystal. I highly suggest you don't ask it to make you the owner though. I know my outside knowledge is what led to such a simple discovery, but that's the thing, this was rather easy to find, wasn't it? So I guarantee you that many other people have tried, and probably continue to try, to figure out the secrets of this device." She reached over and touched the crystal fragment, "But that's all you felt? There wasn't anything else?"

  "? Was there supposed to be? What happens when you touch it?"

  She grinned, "What's supposed to happen. I could both feel and see all of the nearby domain crystals, and two of them had red lines going between them on the map."

  "Wait, so those would be..." Even though he was freaking out on the inside earlier when he found out that they were but a small fish in a large pond that was, for some reason, cut off from all the others, he surprisingly felt nothing but excitement hearing about how close they were to two of the regions that weren't a part of his world.

  "Exactly what you're thinking! This Gallios-Five outpost of yours is apparently near one end of your world, because I can sense two domain crystals in that direction." She pointed at two different places off to the eastern side of the outpost, "So what happens if you try walking toward them?"

  "Hmm, from what I've heard, it's just a never-ending snowy landscape. We could go to the Archives and pull the world map up, but it's as you said, we're at the end of one side of the map."

  "So you don't know of any stories involving someone who tried going in that direction? You have airships, so surely someone has tried flying off of your 'Map' at least once."

  "Well, now that you point it out, I'm sure they've tried many times, but honestly, I just assumed it was a never-ending uninhabitable snow-infested area that eventually wrapped around to the other side of the map... Oh! But I think that's where Uncle Gavin found Lisa and me. He said him and Mom found us wrapped up in a furry sleeping blanket somewhere out there."

  Sarah's face scrunched up, "Maybe it's not a locked world then?? Now I'm tempted to steal one of those airships and try to see if I can fly over to one of these other regions. They're only a few hundred miles away---"

  The Domain Crystal suddenly lit up and began to spin toward the right slowly, and at the same time, Yuji could feel a strangely warm aura encompassing his entire body. However, he and Sarah were about the only ones there who found that aura 'Friendly'. Screams erupted almost instantly as the thousands of people around the plaza began to panic after the unknown aura hit them. Even if it did feel nice, that wasn't always a good thing. They'd all heard the horrors of what Xerathian Gods did to people, and it always started with a 'Warm feeling friendly aura'.

  "What did you do?!" He yelled.

  "U-Um, all I did was try to connect to one of those red-lined crystals... I just wanted to make sure they were only a few hundred miles away! It was supposed to pull up information on the crystal, and so I guess that's how it reconnected? But surely someone had to have tried this before!"

  "You're forgetting that I didn't see those regions! Only someone from the outside could see them... Probably."

  The outposts alarm system began to blare so loudly that it was drowning out the citizens shouts and screams. Without saying anything, both Yuji and Sarah jumped off the bench and began to run back the way they came.

  "No! This way!" Yuji yelled over at her as she headed for the platform. She pivoted to the right and followed him from behind, and it didn't take her long to see that there was a long sloped path leading down to the trailer area.

  While everyone else was going toward the platform, there were five people ahead of them that they were quickly gaining ground on. The one person among them carrying a child turned around and yelled "Yuji!" when she caught a glimpse of his face under his hood.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Mrs. Silvia? What's wrong!" He figured she was just panicking like everyone else, but he'd lived next to the Silvia family his entire life, so if something really was wrong, he wanted to help her.

  She stopped and waved off her kids as they stopped next to her. They got the hint and restarted their sprint home.

  Yuji slowed to a stop in front of her and she immediately held out the baby in her arms, "D-Do you sense anything off with her? Please, Yuji, check for me..."

  Ahh, so everyone really does think it's a Xerathian Broodling...

  If there really were a Broodling growing in their lands, people who were used to being around one another would have their senses altered so that they wouldn't notice anything was off. The parasitic connection was much easier to find if strangers were the ones checking for any kind of aura that Humanoids wouldn't normally be emitting.

  We're around each other a lot though, so it'd confuse my senses too, wouldn't it?

  But he knew anything logical was the last thing on her mind, and for good reason, so he didn't say anything and just reached out, taking little Evelyn from her before holding her against himself.

  "Hey there, little Eve. Were you taking a trip to the mall with your family?"

  Evelyn smacked her tiny glove-covered hands into Yuji's jacket as she smiled up at him. The little girl loved taking trips to the mall, so even though their family had usually just sat around watching TV, they started leaving their trailer at least three times a week for the past half a year.

  He searched her soul in the same manner he had the crystal earlier for around twenty seconds before holding her out toward her mom, "Yep, she's fine, Mrs. Silvia! I promise there's nothing there, and I'll bet anything that we'll hear an announcement soon that it's not a Broodling anyway. Don't forget that you're only supposed to feel their auras so strongly like this when you're right next to them."

  Mrs. Silva took Evelyn back from Yuji with a light smile on her face, "Right... Yeah..." She looked over at the now lit-up domain crystal, "But then what's with that crystal?"

  ... A very good question, Mrs. Silvia.

  ~Three minutes earlier in the upper-city mall~

  ~Zen's POV~

  "He did what...?" Lisa stared at Zen. What the Elf had just told her was so outside of anything she could have ever expected that none of it sounded real.

  "Eh?! Wait, he didn't tell you yet?" Zen asked, but then sighed exaggeratedly when he realized what he had just done, "Whoops... I assumed your brother had already told you the good news long ago. But yeah, I just contacted the healer and he's on his way here now. He's a bit of an asshole, but he'll fix you up in no time."

  "B-But where did he get the coins for that?! We could've moved to a much better place ages ago if he had won the monthly raffle, or however it is that he got all those coins. There was no need to---"

  Zen held his hand up, cutting Lisa off.

  "... I think I already see why your brother wasn't going to tell you until the very last second. You would have berated him for trying to heal you, right? I can guess why you ended up believing that any coins spent on you were a complete waste, but this is the opposite. It's not a nicer wheelchair that runs on crystals or anything like that, it's fixing your legs forever. I don't know how many coins you make with those drawings, but even if legs don't help you much on that front, at the very least, it'll free up your family to focus on the future. You didn't really expect them to just buy a nicer house while you were still wheeling yourself around, did you?"

  "......."

  Gavin and Lisa's area was in a corner on the fourth floor of the mall. Their uncle sold meat wraps, pizza singles, and fluffy candy. Unbeknownst to the siblings, Gavin had also been saving up to heal Lisa, and as he listened to the conversation taking place nearby, he couldn't help but laugh inwardly.

  He was feeling mighty proud of his nephew, and for the first time in ages, he was feeling a little happy when thinking about the future, because now he had all those extra coins to put toward a nicer home. He didn't want to leave the outpost since his stall had been doing quite well for several years now, but if Yuji and Lisa wanted to leave, he was more than happy to go with them.

  "Here you go, sir. Give it some time though! It's still piping hot." Gavin said, holding out the meat wrap to one of Zen's colleagues.

  "It smells damn good already. Are you sure you don't want one of these, Zen?" The Protector asked his Squad Leader, but before Zen could answer, a loud alarm began blaring so loudly that Lisa and half of the mall had immediately clasped their hands over their ears.

  Zen and his subordinate whipped out their datapads. They connected to the local Archives, but the reason stated for the alarm was baffling to say the least.

  The crystal outside this mall suddenly brightened and started spinning? While that is a little worrying, am I crazy in thinking this isn't that big of a deal?

  But it was only a few seconds later that Zen understood what the real cause of the alarm was. As the warm and welcoming aura washed over him, Zen could only think of all the different ways he was going to punish the fool who didn't put the most important detail in the emergency announcement.

  Riddick watched as one of the three Protectorate below handed a black rope to the Kitsune they had been speaking to for the past couple of minutes.

  So that was his rope...? Is this Kitsune the one who opened those boxes and called the Protectorate?

  Riddick thought back to the Moonblood barrel his lovely-but-crazy sister had been so obsessed with. He would never steal it from her, but Ava definitely would if given the chance, so while her worries weren't unwarranted, her actions, as usual, bothered him greatly. Lundy had more than paid the price for what he did all those years ago, and yet she continued to torment him.

  ......

  He stared at the Kitsune, who, despite currently being reassured by the Protectorate that he wasn't in any trouble and wouldn't be saved in any files, still had a pure white face filled with terror. Inside the home, Riddick could see a pregnant Kitsune behind the man, worryingly watching the exchange.

  ... Esta doesn't need to know about any of this. I didn't see or hear anything here.

  He knew what she'd do to the poor man who had clearly found himself in a situation that was far above his pay grade. The Kitsune just wanted it all to go away, and Riddick was more than happy to help him in that. Which is the opposite of what dear Esta would've done to him.

  BRRRRR!!

  BRRRRR!!

  BRRRRR!!

  If he hadn't been trained for years to stay still no matter the circumstances, even Riddick would've jumped in horror as the speakers thirty feet to his left began screaming an alarm so loud it was rattling around inside his head.

  He didn't even care what the cause of the alarm was at the moment; all he knew was that he wanted to get as far away from the speakers as possible, so he ran over to the other side of the salon's roof and jumped off of it onto a nearby building's roof.

  Only after resting for a minute behind a parapet that was mostly blocking the sound did he finally poke his head up to see what was going on.

  Everything looks fine, but I can hear some screams from above. So whatever it is must have happened topside.

  Riddick began jumping from roof to roof as he made his way toward the eastern side of the lower city. He always scaled the wall there when he needed to reach the upper side, as the warehouse district was almost always empty.

  Unaware to him though, his sister Ava had been watching him for a while now. She grew bored of waiting for him to return, and merely out of curiosity, she returned and climbed up into the top of the exhaust chimney connected to the Pyrite-Generator building that was far higher above any of the other buildings in the under-city.

  The inside of the tower was unbelievably cold on the upper half of her body that was peaking over the parapet, while her lower half was on fire from all of the heat dissipating through the chimney. It didn't seem possible for two conflicting temperatures to be so close to each other, but she was now understanding why her family said to never enter the Pyrite-Generator's open chimney.

  She tried to giggle, but all that came out was her teeth chattering as she watched her brother scaling the cliff side in the distance.

  Huhu, heheheheh... The watcher becomes the watcher! Or no, the watched becomes... Watching? Eh, whatever! I win, and now I must go home! I shall await triumphantly for him to return and explain this alarm and that scared little chicken below!

  Ava scaled down the chimney until she was sure she wouldn't crash through the roof below and then jumped. She pointlessly did several barrel rolls in the air, landing on her side hard while sounding out a small 'Keh!!' as she rolled a few times through the water until she stopped. All of the snow on the building powering the town was completely melted, and way hotter than anyone normally would have liked to be lying down in.

  Ahh, so comfortable... The queen of stealth is tired... I'll just wait here for a while instead of going home. Yes, a very triumphant idea...

  She closed her eyes and dozed off to the sounds of far-away screaming, alarms blaring, and the distant echo of dropships leaving.