PD-Universe Eternal Ch. 4

Chapter 4 Fear and Memories

“Master, I’ve come to report on the status of the Empire’s uprising. They seem to still be operating in the shadows; they haven’t done anything too drastic yet, but that will probably soon change.”

“So, what have they been after?”

“Well, apparently, it’s a young Lycanian. It seems that he has risen with the first of the artifacts.”

“What?! Already? I assumed they wouldn’t surface for some time! But, instead, they come right now?!”

“Yes. Should we take action?”

“Not now! There’s only been one so far. We should at the least wait for another to arise. Just stand by and enjoy the testing, Brazen.”

“Yes, if you say so, my master.” ********************

In the corridors of the Space Station Midspace, which floated silently in space, unabated by any meteors or black-holes, four extraterrestrials walked from their first testing area to their next challenge via a long and wide hallway.

Camis walked in the center of Aaron and Andy, with Tiejaz hovering overhead them all. The hallway seemed tall enough to allow transportation of that height, so nobody questioned it. “Well, now that you have that chip off your shoulder, Camis, we can finally get serious on these next exams,” Tiejaz said.

“It’s not entirely my fault. You wouldn’t have trusted me with anything important if I didn’t have any credibility of my skills,” Camis retorted, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed face.

“Speaking of skills, that was a great tactic you pulled back there, Andy! Welcome to the team!” Aaron said.

“Thanks! But…I thought I was already on the team,” Andy said with a slightly confused look on his face.

“You were…I think,” Camis reassured. “So…are you good at creating tactics like that? It seems that it was tailored especially for him…well…any quick opponent.”

“Yeah. I’m an inventor by nature,” Andy explained. “I never planned on being stuck as an errand boy for some delivery company.”

“Same here! I never planned on inheriting a super-mega conglomerate company and gaining so much revenue that I’ve actually reached the MAXIMUM amount of money any being is supposed to have, but look at me!” Aaron attempted to empathize.

“Um…Aaron, no offense, but you skirt all your CEO duties and travel around the universe avoiding press and getting into trouble,” Tiejaz said, floating closer to Aaron and speaking in a mock whisper.

“And the fact that Andy was still doing his job up until the point where he wanted to join us,” Camis added.

“Bleh, same thing,” Aaron waived the conversation aside. The group stopped walking/floating. The hallway seemed to end at a rusty door attached to a dim wall. The lights around it weren’t broken or burnt out; they had just been dimmed for the occasion. Behind the cracks of the door the group could see weird, red light pouring out, insinuating something strange on the other side.
For a moment, everyone stared unblinking at the door.

“You can open it,” Tiejaz nudged Camis forward.
“What, me?!” Camis turned around, surprised.

“Oh, come on, it’s just a simple door! Look, I’ll open it!” Andy groaned, stepping forward and grabbing the door’s metal handle.

When Andy opened the door, a small clay cup flew out of the room and struck him square in the forehead. Dazed, Andy fell backwards to the floor in a stiffened position as the cup shattered on the ground.

From inside the room, an old, weathered voice rang out, “Knock before you enter!”, and then began mumbling nonsensically.

While Andy shakily stood up, Camis opened the door a bit more and peeked inside.

The room was much smaller than the Battle Arena, and was decorated in more than metal walls and large pipes. A single dark-blue paint lined the walls, with black runes all over. There were no pits, but in the center, there were five metal chairs, one of them housing a very small and wrinkled, grey-skinned old man, sitting in a meditative position with clothes that looked to be for a 7-foot monk.

It was the geezer who had pelted Andy with a clay cup.

Camis ducked back inside the hallway and walked to the other three.

“Um…it’s only 1 old guy. He’s most likely the 2nd examiner,” Camis said.

“Yeah, but he throws like a professional…ow…,” Andy insighted, still rubbing his forehead and temples.

The group began walking towards the door, but Andy stopped them, walked forward and gave the door a few cautious knocks. The doors immediately flew open, knocking Andy backwards again.

He recomposed himself, got back up, and looked backwards towards the others, all of whom were trying to suppress a laugh. With an annoyed look, Andy turned back and walked through the imposing door. After a few seconds of catching their breath, Camis, Aaron, and Tiejaz followed suit. ********************

Above the door, looking out into the 2nd exam hall a good 40 meters from the floor, there was a darkened room with a one-way mirror that showed every happening in the room below. Brazen, sitting in a seat, looking out upon the entry of the four extraterrestrials, quietly waited for instructions from the computer-television behind him.

He had been silently studying them during their hallway journey. Aaron had a cool, calm personality that shadowed an assassin’s heart. Tiejaz had a quick-to-act, hasty personality that gave him the advantage of sheer randomness in battle. Andy had a collected, thinking personality that allowed him to rationalize the situation before acting on intuition.

Camis seemed to be another matter entirely. In passing Camis seemed to be shy and awkward around nearly anyone, yet in battle…

“How goes the second exam, Brazen?” a voice said from the monitor.

“They have just begun, and yet something tells me that this won’t be their biggest challenge,” Brazen replied in an informational manner, not turning around to look at the face.

“Ah, you are talking about the Test of Fear?” the voice verbally prodded.

“Well, the man is an ex-member of the Shadoh Empire, and I’ve heard stories…”

“Yes, we all have. Well, sorry to waste your time, continue viewing them! I have great hopes in their skills!” “Yes,” Brazen said, “their skills…”
********************

Minutes later, Camis, Aaron, Tiejaz, and Andy all found themselves sitting in chairs, facing the elderly 2nd examiner, who stared at them behind a grand mass of grey hair that fell to his knees (which wasn’t very far) while sitting in a meditation position on a small stool. His short, stubby stature allowed his ridiculously long robes to touch the floor and billow out from there. On a table next to him, he had half a dozen half-filled cups of water, the back-ups most likely for the occasion of someone forgetting to knock on the exam room door.

There had been a long, awkward silence as the 2nd examiner continued to stare into what the group could only guess to be their souls. Tiejaz began to fidget, Aaron had begun to lounge in what seemed to be the deepest state of nirvana as was mortally possible, his eyes glazed and his arms slacked over the back of his chair, Camis had whipped out his laptop and began checking up on Lycanian news, and Andy had taken a metal box, some screws, and an industrial strength adhesive, and was working them together in a variety of shapes and combinations. The room was silent for several minutes before the examiner seemed to break out of his trance and jump up on his chair.
“The exam starts NOW!” the old man yelled, startling the others. “The rules are simple! I will ask each of you a question about a topic of my choosing, and you must answer a total of 3 questions correctly! You hear me?! 3!!! That means if two of you miss the answer, you fail! You see?! Fail!!!”

The old man seemed to sink back into his meditation position and calm down. He spoke again, but in a calm, surreal voice.

“Ok, now for the Aquari. First question: What is the purpose of an aura’s strength?”

Aaron seemed to respond almost immediately, despite still being in his lounging state.

“An aura’s strength is the power at which a person’s soul functions. At a high enough power, a being can impose their own soul over matter, and can do things such as making air flow, heating the atmosphere in close proximity, altering water, and even communing with a planet itself. In short, the purpose of an aura’s strength is how much matter influence a being has,” Aaron explained in a monotonous voice.

Andy whispered to Camis, “Does he do this often?”
Camis just shrugged, whispering back, “I’m as new as you to this group, mostly.”

“Very good!” the old man yelled, on his chair again. “Now you, talkative Bobeune! Answer me this: When and why was the Space Station Midspace built?!”

Andy thought for a moment, and finally answered, “I’ve read that it was built 47 years ago ever since the last one was driven into a wormhole by a confrontation with an unknown fugitive. Knowing that the universe needed the freelancing law enforcers, the Galactic Bureaucracy immediately petitioned for a new one to be built in a segment of space that was paralleled to multiple dimensions, making it difficult to get to and nearly impossible to destroy. The fugitive has yet to be found, however, and the cause of the previous Guild Station is still unknown.”

“Yes, yes, fine,” the old man said, calming down again. “Fire-boy, your turn. What is Soul Fusion?”

Tiejaz became slightly annoyed.

“I thought these questions were supposed to be practical?” he complained.

“I never said that, answer the question!” the old man said, seemingly trying to stay between his two personalities.

“Whatever. Sol Fusion is the effect that occurs when two people completely fuse their souls, mind, and body. The Base, the person who initiates the Soul Fusion, will stay mostly intact after the fusion is complete. The Base is usually the one with the most aura strength. Then there’s the catalyst, the person whose soul sorta wraps around the Base’s, causing the Base to gain some features of the Catalyst. Obviously, though this has never been performed. It’s only theorized by some freakin’ scientists who found some tablet on a backwater planet that said it was possible. Ancient history, literally,” he explained, somewhat lazily.

Camis sat up.

“My turn?” he asked, slightly excited.

“Nope, you all passed. Congratulations,” the old man said.

“What?! I thought these exams were supposed to be difficult!” Tiejaz said, becoming even more annoyed. “This whole set-up is confusing me!”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, your tests are not yet over. The Test of Fear, however, is much tougher than the tests you’ve faced so far,” the old 2nd examinee said. “Besides, I already examined your minds. You all pass in the intellect, some more than others.”

“Phew, I’m glad that’s all there was,” Andy said, wiping some nervous sweat off of his forehead.

“Wait,” Aaron said. “Is there anything you can tell us about the next exam?”

The old man looked at him, or at least seemed to, as his long, grey hair completely covered his eyes, and laughed heartily.

“Very good! Becoming more knowledgeable is the best way to face challenges head on!” the old man said, smiling. “Just for asking, I will give you some information!”

“Oh, good!” Aaron said, pulling a small, handheld computer and an electronic handheld stylus pen, ready to take notes.

“First, the Test of Fear challenges each guild member separately. Each member will experience a different fear, not their greatest, but one strong enough to disorient even the strongest of wills. Second, in order to succeed in this challenge, EVERY person will have to pass their fears,” the old man explained. “The final, and most vital thing to know is that the examinee is an Ex-Member of the Shadoh Empire.”

“What?!” Camis yelled in surprise.

“I say this only to warn you, not only will he have a personal bias against your abilities, but he will not relent until you either fully complete the exam, or admit utter defeat,” the old man warned.

“Why are you telling us this?” Andy asked, with a startled look on his face.

The old man sighed.

“I give you information, and yet you still question my motives? Can you not take information at face value? How do you expect to become smarter Perhaps I was wrong in allowing you to pass this test,” the man said, sadly.

"Leave that task to me,” a mysterious voice said, seemingly from nowhere. “I will determine whether or not they deserve the rank of ‘guildsmen.’”

A dark shadow suddenly fell upon the room. The candle lights flickered out simultaneously, showing that the only light in the room came from dim domes about 20 feet from the floor.

A mass of something even darker seemed to crawl from the end opposite the examinee and examiners. Red, glowing slits of eyes appeared in the darkness, seeming to look into the very souls of all it viewed.

“Wh…who are you?!” Camis said, joining in with his friends as they all drew out their respective weapons.

With a wave of his hand, the figure seemed to cause every weapon to fall to the floor and off to the side. The group kept their defensive stance, but they were now unarmed.

The figure emitted a content laugh.

“Heh. Don’t you know that the Battle Exam is finished?” it laughed. “No, no, calm down. I don’t plan on hurting you, but I must say, if you force me to, I won’t have any regrets.”

“Who exactly are you?” Aaron asked coldly, giving the figure a cold, assassin’s glare.

“I am Uhilon, the Demosian in charge of the third test, the Test of Fear,” the figure said, something about its composure suggested a feeling of content. “Gamarth, you can leave now. Your test is over.”

The old man sighed again.

“If you say so, though I still believe that they have much to learn yet,” he said, sadly. And with a final angry outburst, he screamed, “Good riddance, you class A slackers! I hope you fail! I hope you faaaaaaaaail!”

Another extremely black mass split from Uhilon and drifted towards Garmath, as if being directed by an evil breeze. The darkness engulfed the old man until nothing, not even his faint shadow from the lights above, could be seen. Once the mass cleared, the old man was gone.

The group tensed up and shot sideways glances to their weapons, but nobody moved. Even breathing was barely audible, seemingly muffled by the darkness.

“Don’t worry, I‘ve only transported him to his own dimension. He’s completely unharmed,” Uhlion said, still smiling, but now emitting a slightly impatient aura. “Now, if you’d stop acting like a bunch of fight-happy idiots, I’d be happy to explain my test.”

Four chairs forced themselves on the active extraterrestrials, making them sit down in them. Camis felt his power begin to drain from his body, and assumed that the others were feeling the same thing, which they were.

“Now that you’re all relaxed,” the Demosian grinned, “we can get down to business. As I said, and you already knew, the final test to become an official guild is the aptly named Test of Fear, for, you see, you must survive for 5 minutes with your deepest haunts coaxing you to throw the test. You all must pass THIS test, like the first, in order to become an official adventuring guild.”

“I don’t like this guy,” Camis whispered as quietly as possible to Aaron.

“Eh, I don’t really care for him either, but he’s not evil,” Aaron replied calmly. Camis hadn’t noticed it very well, but Aaron hadn’t tensed up at all, either when Uhilon had appeared or when he had enveloped the 2nd examiner. In fact, Aaron seemed to be emitting a very calm aura at the moment.

“The rules are simple,” Uhilon continued. “I will place you each in a separate state of consciousness, where you’ll be faced with your deepest fears. Keep in mind that I will not control whatever happens next. If you are forced into insanity, injured, or just give up, then you will fail. No second chances for another year. Do you understand the terms of this test?”

Nobody said anything.

The fools. Fear is already beginning to grip them. Fear of me, nonetheless, Uhilon thought to himself. Don’t they know there are worse things from the Shadoh Empire than a coward Demosian like me who fled at the first sign of danger?

Aaron coughed rather loudly.

“I…accept,” Andy said slowly.

“I’ll do it, already!” Tiejaz said.

“I’ll…do it, too,” Camis agreed.

Everybody looked at Aaron, who was leaning back in his chair, all three eyes closed. Opening his left one lazily, he just waived his hand.

“Well, of course I’ll do it! I wouldn’t go against the team for something like that! Besides, it’ll be fun!” he replied, grinning.

“Very well, Test #3 begins now!” Uhilon announced, raising his shadowy limbs into the air as the lights went out.
********************

To Camis, it seemed like every single light in the world had gone out. Total darkness surrounded everything, but looking around, he could see himself perfectly. What was this? Were the lights off or not?

A small dot of light appeared directly in front of Camis, seeming to follow his vision wherever he turned. The light grew brighter and brighter, and began changing shapes. The glowing ball shifted to a glowing sock, which shifted to a giant glowing spider-like beast, which finally shifted back to that singular tiny point of light.

What’s it doing? Calibrating my fears? Reading my thoughts? Or is it just acting randomly? Camis asked himself in his own mind, though he felt it would have had the same volume if he had spoken it out loud.

The light began shifting again, and began making strange humming noises. The light grew bigger, faster. It began to waver from the direct center of Camis’ vision, and became more chaotic in its core. The light seemed to harden, becoming corporal. It’s shape seemed to widen, still wavering, until it finally seemed to explode in a great burst of flashing light.

When it all cleared, Camis gasped.

The entire scenery had changed. He was no longer in a lightless void, but rather in a small, trimmed clearing in a forest. And judging by the looks of things, Camis saw that the setting wasn’t the only thing that had changed.

Upon standing up, Camis noticed that his sweatshirt seemed a lot bigger on him, and his pants two, as he quickly readjusted them. Everything seemed larger in size, but Camis could tell where he was at the least, which, after a moment, filled him with dread.

He was in the exact place in the exact form (minus the oversized clothing he had been wearing before this little detour) as he had been 8 years ago, the day his parents had disappeared.

Camis had tried to erase this little memory from his mind ever since it happened. So many traumatic things had happened that day, escalating from a mere encounter. When the Demosian tapped into his mind to find Camis’ deepest fear, however, he must have uncovered this small bit of information, and was now going to play it back, as if on a 3-D recording, exactly how it happened so many years before.

Camis suddenly went cold, every single strand of fur on his body twitching. He now knew exactly what would happen next, and if he was right, Camis wasn’t sure if he’d even live past this shock again.

A loud, piercing shriek came from behind him. Before even turning around, Camis knew what it was. Slowly and stiffly rotating himself, Camis wasn’t disappointed.

A giant, 50 foot bird was in the air, stalling in the air a good 30 feet from Camis. It was a roc, native to Lycania, and also the Lycanian’s natural enemies. Though the Lycanian government had signed all sorts of documents to try to move them to a desolate planet, the problems still remained: 1) Scientists had no idea what the lack of rocs would do to the near-perfect environment, and 2) It all depended on who was brave enough to get anywhere near the avian horrors.

Everything about the 50-foot bird terrified Camis, from the slightly hooked and sharp beak, to the ugly grey 100-foot wingspan, to the lethal talons attached to its powerful legs. Even more, despite having all of his clothing, Camis, reaching back, discovered that his backpack was gone, as well as any hopes of defending himself. He was scared stiff, and couldn’t bring himself to move. He was in deep trouble.

“Oh…..god….no…..” Camis whispered to himself, somewhat surprised with his younger-sounding voice.

Camis slowly stood up, trying to keep eye contact with the huge, beady eyes of the 50-foot predator. Backing away slowly, nearly tripping over his now-oversized pants, Camis kept on yelling a single command in his mind.

Run! Run you idiot! Come on! There’s absolutely no way you can take that thing on without a bazooka, or at the least, your swords! RUUUUN!

Camis stopped. The roc was beginning to settle into a hunting mode. Slowly getting closer to the ground, the huge bird hit the ground with its feet, causing a tremor to move across the ground despite the soft-ish landing. This successfully knocked Camis over, sending him flying to the ground behind him headfirst.

Barely dodging a rock, Camis bit back the pain in his arm and stood up, quicker than he wanted to. The memory, Camis now drew everything he knew about this day to his consciousness. He had been wandering the forest after seeing a particularly action-packed movie he had downloaded via the Mentonet.. Going into the forest, looking for adventure, he had stumbled across a roc nest, an OCCUPIED roc nest. Of course, this angered the roc, whom chased Camis through the forest until he got far enough away.

This, however, was not the traumatic part. Camis laid, bleeding and tired, in the forest, waiting for his parents to come rescue him, and had grown suspicious when they had not. Hobbling back to his home, Camis found it in disarray, and empty of any life. That was the day his parents disappeared. That was the traumatic memory he faced, having to live from then on by himself, going to school, making his food, and doing enough odd jobs to afford his home (though the Lycanian government did take off some of the hardships, what with the extra cash and occasional free delivery meals.)

The only thing Camis had to overcome his missed childhood was the Lunar Orb, an object he had never seen before. After some research, Camis discovered that this ball was used to store lunar energy off-planet, to allow Lycanians to survive while traveling elsewhere. It was the one thing he still cherished to this day.

Camis knew that his hopes probably relied on that one object; except that the object, if it really was his memory being used as a fear, was already at his home, waiting to be discovered. If Camis was unable to overcome this one fear, then he would fail this test.

I’m losing focus, he thought to himself. I have to stay calm. If I let this Demosian freak me out, then we lose it all, we lose our shot at becoming an official Midspace Guild!

Camis quickly recomposed himself as the Roc stopped just a few meters away, beady eyes glaring at its supposed prey.

“This time I won’t run away. This time, I’ll fight you head-on. I don’t care what awaits me at home, but I will stop the sequence of events that leads to my life!” Camis yelled at the roc, who, of course, didn’t understand a word of it. “Get ready! I’ll destroy you this time!”

Camis felt his clothes get a bit tighter. Looking down, Camis found that he had grown to his full height again (of course, his full height was only 4’ 9”.)

Maybe, since I overcame some of the fear, the illusion has made me a bit stronger! I can win at this rate! Camis thought, grinning to himself.

Looking back at the roc, Camis’ composure quickly brightened up. A light appeared from behind him, and upon turning around, Camis found his backpack and sword, newly polished and sharpened, lying in the forest only 20 feet away.

A shadow overcast him, and Camis gained the sense to jump backwards, just in time to dodge a fierce peck from the now annoyed roc. Settling into a roll in midair, Camis flew back, grabbing his sword. Pushing off from the ground behind him, Camis grabbed the hilt, drew the sword from its sheath, braced his muscles and cut…

…through thin air.

Startled, Camis flew forward from the force of his jump, but quickly sprang to his feet and jumped against a tree, springing into the air. He quickly positioned himself for another downwards stab, but again the giant bird seemed to dissolve where he cut, not taking any damage, whatsoever.

“Why can’t I cut this thing?” Camis furiously muttered. He landed, a bit hard, not ready for the changed dynamics of his jump, but he stopped, and just turned around to face the bird, whom, it seemed to Camis, to be mocking him.

“Oh well, you stupid bird. If I can’t hit you, then it’s obvious you can’t hit me,” Camis said, turning around and walking towards the surrounding forest, hoping to get away from this test as quick as possible. He had faced his fear, so the test was over, right?

As if it had understood Camis, and was trying to prove a point, the great bird raised its gigantic talon, and slashed Camis across the back. Something suddenly spooked the huge beast, however, as it immediately took off quickly from where it stood, flying quickly into the dawn sky above.

Camis could feel muscles and skin ripping as he fell to the ground, paralyzed in pain. Blood gushed out of the diagonal wound in his back. Camis began to yell, partly of frustration, partly of the searing pain in his back.

“Well, I guess I was wrong about that…” Camis gasped, grimacing at the pain.

As his adrenaline began pumping again, not that he could move at all, a sudden rush of voices came to his head, along with a headache large enough to make him drop his head to the ground, bumping his snout on the tough terrain before letting it rest uncomfortably sideways. As he began to lose consciousness, Camis listened to what they were saying.

“Just give up, it’s not worth it.”

“You know what will happen next.”

“Is becoming an adventurer really worth risking your own life?”

“Your friends are depending on you to succeed.”

The last one gave him a start. He opened his eyes and tried to stand up, forgetting that his back had just been slashed open by razor-sharp talons of a gigantic bird.

Whatever it meant, it was right. Camis had selfishly risked the team’s success when he took on Brazen on his own, and couldn’t bear to do it again. Though everybody understood, Camis still wasn’t happy that he had done that. Besides, Camis had a reason for becoming an adventurer. If he gained enough prestige and fame, perhaps he could find out where his parents were. Even though he was haunted by that day of losing them, Camis still knew that he could find out what happened to them if he just moved forward.

I won’t back down, this time! I’ll live through this, and I won’t live in fear. I can’t. My new friends and old friends helped me escape from capture, and I’m sure they’ll help me too as I move on.

Camis attempted to look up to see what was going on around him, but immediately blacked out. This was followed by a sudden burst of light, as the forest instantaneously disappeared, and was replaced with an oddly brighter exam room.

He was laying on the floor, but he no longer felt any pain. Readjusting himself and rubbing his back, Camis found that the wound was gone, without a single trace of blood or shirt holes.

“Heh, we were wondering when you’d wake up,” Aaron said, smiling, as usual.

“Took you some time, though. You were flailing in your sleep, dude,” Tiejaz laughed.

“So, how was it? Did’ja pass?” Andy asked quickly, excited at the prospect of finally becoming a guildsman.

“Yes. You have all passed. Congradulations,” Uhilon announced, also smiling. Something appeared brighter about him to Camis, despite the extreme lack of light that created his shadowy body. In this light, however, Camis found it wasn’t so much a shadow as a somewhat dark fog.

“YES!” Andy yelled, throwing his arms in the air and running in circles.

Camis looked somewhat embarrassed. He had almost given up; they had no idea that they had come close to losing it all, twice.

“Awesome. What was your greatest fear you had to overcome?” Aaron asked Camis, quizzically.

“It…it was nothing. Howabout yours?” Camis replied, dodging an answer.

“Eh, apparently I have a deathly fear of soap and leprechauns. Don’t ask how they were combined, please,” Aaron laughed.

“Mine’s…like...you know what happens when you get sucked into the center of a black hole while holding a fistful of computerized pencils?” Tiejaz asked.

“No…I can’t say I do,” Camis replied.

“Oh.”

“Ahem,” Uhilon cleared his throat. “You each are officially issued these pass cards, which give you access to your HQ, keeps track of rewards, and such. There will be more information in the personal PC in your rooms. Do you all understand the rules of being an official Midspace Guild?”

“Already took care of it!” Aaron said, proudly.

“Wait, when did we read any of that?” Andy whispered to Aaron.

“I’ll go over it later,” Aaron whispered back. “Don’t worry, just nod.”

“Ok, in that case…” Uhilon raised his arm, and four cards dropped out of a black mist that spontaneously formed over their heads. Almost everyone fumbled with the cards and dropped them as they fell. “Welcome to Space Station Midspace’s Official Guild service.”

With that final word, the Demosian seemed to implode in on himself and fade away.

“Well…so now what?” Tiejaz asked, suddenly becoming impatient.

“Um…I guess…we…go to HQ?” Andy asked.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go!” Aaron yelled.

As they were walking out, Aaron began to stride slower, next to Camis.

“So, are you ready to take on missions, put your self in harm’s way, personally see to the Shadoh Empire’s destruction, and all that stuff?” he asked.

Camis thought for a moment.

“Yeah, you know, I guess I kinda am, now,” he replied, smiling with everyone else.