Hollow Striving

Plot
“Third platoon, push forward!”

Among the chaos of the battlefield, a humanoid clad in heavy black armor with red stripes across its helmet and shoulders yelled orders to the line of men before him. The soldiers, all of whom were cowering behind large rocks and dead trees raised on their feet to the lieutenant's orders, pressing a button on the side of their rifles. The sides of their weapons opened, projecting circular energy shields. Barrages of green energy flew through the fog, smashing into the shields, the advanced circuits located near the shield-generators absorbing the energy in each bolt to refill their own magazines.

After a few moments, the soldiers returned fire, the tips of their rifles that barely stuck out of the shield began to pump lethal crimson bolts back into the mist. The black suits of armor began to move, step after step, they slowly disappeared into the fog. The number of green bolts that flashed past the soldiers decreasing with each passing moment.

“We should have buried this jungle in flames. That would have been a quicker way to deal with these pesky greenskins.” The lieutenant placed his own rifle on his back and walked back.

“Destroying a scout company shouldn’t be so hard.” the captain retorted. “Lord Nosyerg?”

The captain looked to the large Warp Champion standing next to him, its skin radiating a malicious purple light and its sharp claws scratching the surface of a fallen tree stuck into the mud. The Warp Creature remained silent, it’s crimson eyes observing the sky whose color was starting to change to an unnatural spiral of dark purple, red, yellow and green. The transformation was on its way, the Warp was soon going to completely engulf this world and add it to his collection.

But something wasn’t right. His mind could hear voices, billions of years away from his location. Their words were hard to understand, like a whisper that he barely caught. When did they speak to him? Was it in the present, or the future? Maybe those were only shadows of the past.

Lord Nosyerg looked down at the captain, the warrior understanding without either of them having to mutter a single word.

“Red Leader.” the captain turned toward one of his fellow officers. “Take Red Mist Squad and wrap this up. We’re needed at another place.”

The Warp Champion gave a silent nod and held out its arm, its thoughts tearing a fissure in the space before him, reforming it into a black void. The battle was heating up again behind the titan’s back, screams of incoming missiles piercing the relative silence that had ensued, but the Champion never looked back. His height shrinking into more human proportions and its armor-thick skin dissolving, replaced by a black and red jacket, “Lord Nosyerg” disappeared inside the void he opened.

Officer Malista sighed, leaning tiredly back into his seat. They all told him that this job was hard that it was a never-ending traveling from planet to planet, night-long searches for clues and evidence. And even if the Bakasherans were capable of brushing off such physical exhaustion like it was nothing, Malista was beginning to get psychically tired of this endless chase.

Even if he arrested ten criminals a day, twice that amount of Plumbers would be reported dead, killed with one shot in the back by some lowly space pirate, or get blown up during a terrorist attack. And again, he was stuck thinking about why it was so hard to protect the peace.

Fortunately, large scale wars haven’t been a thing since Xin’s Usurpation, but to Malista that was no consolation. Facing a thousand smaller threats from all sides was just as bad, if not worse than facing a single powerful one.

“You know, I wonder when you will stop with all these melodramatic thoughts.” The female Uxorite sitting on the pilot seat commented. “It gets tiring to listen to the same thing over and over again.”

“Then why don’t you stop reading my mind?” Malista suggested.

“Aww, and what else am I supposed to do then?” the Uxorite asked with a playful smirk.

Malista shook his head. He really couldn’t understand how Elyx was able to be so enthusiastic about the job, after all, they have seen.

“Maybe because I don’t like sulking over the past like you do,” Elyx answered. Her ability to tell what his thoughts were, was very annoying. “Get ready, we are landing.”

Malista stood up and walked into the control room where another Plumber, a Zaroffian by the name of Empher has been doing research on the ship’s main computer.

“Are we there already?” Empher glanced at the Bakasheran.

“Me and Elyx will go on the field,” Malista stated.

“I’ll be tech support then.” Empher shrugged. “I’ve been researching. I found some info that could be useful for you.”

Malista nodded. The door to the cockpit slid open and Elyx walked out, joining them.

“Missed something important?” Elyx tilted her head slightly.

“Quite the opposite,” Empher replied. He pressed his hands against the screen, creating a holographic cube inside his palms, then threw his hands to the side, the holographic cube bursting into a hundred photos and articles.

“The Eye of Nosyerg, the Eternals, Nosyerg’s Followers, Our database is filled with data about these… cults. They are human exclusive, probably split out of some human supremacist group. Notes and files that the Plumbers of Sector AC-Dash-B-One-Five-One-Omega were able to secure during the raid on the Eternals show that they are some sort of fanatics. Recovered texts are filled with nonsense like: ‘The promises of the Warp’ and ‘the Eternal Emperor Nosyerg’.”

“Humans always have to worship something to feel like they have some value, so typical.” Malista shrugged. “Anything that would be useful to know on the field?”

“They… aren’t the violent type. Don’t expect much resistance.”

“You should have started with that.”

“What about their hideout?” Elyx asked.

“Ask that governor, if he knows something. Though their ‘beliefs’ align, each of these cells fuctionate completely independently. Chances are, they probably don’t know that other groups like theirs exist.” Empher explained

“I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to go,” Elyx said.

Malista pulled out his blaster pistol to show that he was ready as well. They weren’t going to expect too much resistance and he knew for a fact that human body armor is weak against plasma bolts.

Elyx and Malista stepped into Bay 475. The planet Chithotis 4Y that they were located on was a frozen world with constant storms. Originally a colony world of the humans, colonies of other species soon created came as well, creating four Domed Cities that covered a significant part of the world’s surface.

The two of them then made their way toward one of the datapads that were placed near the landing bays. Most often they were used to store a digital map to help newcomers navigate through the city complex, but sometimes they could be used to send messages, or, like in this case, call somebody.

Malista connected his Plumber badge to the datapad and selected the last contact he talked to. A few moments later, a hologram of a fat humanoid opossum appeared atop the datapad’s screen.

“Y-you have arrived quicker than I expected, officer.” the alien grinned.

“When I told you that we were within the sector, I mean, like in the same star system” Malista replied.

“That’s good, good...”

“Where should we start, governor?”

“I believe that these cultists have probably built their hideout in one of the caves outside the city.” The Governor stated.

“Are you sure about that information?” Malista raised an eyebrow. Or he would have if his species had eyebrows.

“It’s just speculation, but our officers searched every inch of every single city on the planet. We used drones to scan the cities for any new constructions that aren’t within the city’s map. We even checked the sewer system, but nothing turned up. Our only trail was a cultist who blew herself up when the officers tried to arrest her. Among the remains that we salvaged was a Class Two Kylmyys Cold Suit.”

“And did you try to send any officer outside the city to investigate?” Elyx asked.

“I couldn’t do that. The class three Kylmyys Cold Suit that our local law enforcers use aren’t well suited for the climate outside.” the governor argued. “The Tetramand battery uses too much energy to heat the suits so when they patrol outside city limits, they can’t get too far from a power rod, or they will run out of battery and freeze to death.”

“I see how it is then.” Malista sighed. “You called us because Plumber Armor is better equipped for a long exposure on cold climate.”

“Precisely.”

Malista growled before turning to Elyx.

“Take the helmets, we are going out.”

Walking into a blizzard with snow reaching to your waist and about a hundred miles away from any center of civilization was something that most intelligent lifeforms whose biology wasn’t precisely suited for cold climate, would avoid. But Plumbers didn’t have that type of choice. If there was any sort of danger or illegal activities on a planet, or in outer space, it was their duty to neutralize it.

They must have walked for a few hours at least, the storm was so severe that their helmets’ visitors, even on their highest setting, had a hard time enhancing their sight to see what’s located only two feet in front of them. At least their navigation systems and communication channels were still functional, so that was a plus.

Malista took out his Plumber badge and pressed the red orb in the center, opening a map of the surrounding area. It was quite old, made by the human colony before the building of the doom cities, so it was up in the air how relevant it still was.

“We are getting close to a cave!” Malista said into his helmet’s communicator.

“Oh, great,” Elyx responded sarcastically. “And what if we don’t find anything in there?”

“We return to the city. In this climate, it’s best not to play heroes and to just check one place at a time.” Their armor could withstand the cold for a long time, but not for an infinite amount of time.

“Like that won’t give them time to escape,” Elyx remarked.

Malista ignored his companion’s remark. Soon, the cave came within view to the Plumbers. One of the few remnants of the planet’s rocky terrain that hasn’t been buried by snow yet. Their visors picked up something, their thermal sensors locating a source of heat in the middle of a frozen desert.

The due walked further into the cave, weapons drawn in case they came around a hostile life-form. Malista scanned the rocks around them, the results flashing before his green visor.

“It appears that there are volcanic vents around us,” Malista muttered.

“So the lava is what’s keeping this place warmer than most,” Elyx commented. “That’s probably how the humans were able to map most of the planet without modern heating technology.”

“A nomadic way of living.” Malista nodded. “They are creative if nothing else.”

Elyx shook her head. She kept following Malista until she noticed something off. It was a crack in the wall. Not too big, probably just enough for her arm to go through. She looked back at Malista for a moment, he was going forward without noticing that she had stopped following him. Shaking her head in slight disappointment, Elyx walked over to the crack and knelt down, just enough to take a peak.

She could see another tunnel continuing on the other side of the stone. There were light, small glowing orbs, hanging from the walls.

“Malista!” Elyx shouted, catching her partner’s attention.

“What are you doing?” He asked, returning to her position.

“There’s a tunnel on the other side.” Elyx pointed at the crack.

Malista knelt down next to her and ran his hand around its side. It seemed to have been formed naturally, no mining involver there, and certainly no secret-gateway shenanigans either. Their only problem was making the crack large enough for the two of them to crawl through.

“Don’t you have enhanced strength?” Malista frowned at his partner’s use of telepathy to read his thoughts once again.

“I do, but I worry that my suit will get damaged if I start trying to dig a hole with my fists.”

“What? Scared to get a little cold?” Elyx asked in a teasing tone.

“Given my species’ low survivability on cold worlds, yes, I’m.” Malista nodded. “Couldn’t you use your telekinetic powers to crush the rock?”

“Maybe.” Elyx shrugged. “But it’s going to take some time.

“We aren’t in a hurry. Not yet at least.”

Elyx sighed. She pressed her hand against the wall and closed her eyes behind the helmet. If she focused, she could sense the shatter-points - the weakest parts in its composition. Once all of the weak points have been located, Elyx focused all of her mental strength into cracking them, breaking the stone from the inside-out. Her telekinetic powers blew forward, tearing a crack large enough for them to move through.

“I will go first.” Malista raised his gun slightly.

Elyx nodded and took her rifle, turning back to cover her partner in case anything tried to surprise them from behind.

Malista crawled through the crack, coming out into a large corridor. Keeping his finger on the trigger, the Plumber took a look around. His helmet didn’t detect any life-form nearby, but this place wasn’t a natural construction. Especially that stairway that was dug through the rock. It was leading downward, the small crack that Elyx found was probably caused when someone was chipping away at the rocks here.

“It’s clear.” Malista tapped the rock behind him.

The Bakasheran took a step to the side, letting his partner crawl through the hole and join him.

“So, a cave system?” Elyx tilted her head.

“With inhabitants no less.” Malista pointed to the stairway. “If it’s humans, they must have come here from another entrance.”

“That’s obvious.” Elyx sighed. “So, are we taking the stairs, or go for the corridor?”

“Chances are that they came from the direction of the corridor,” Malista said and turned toward the stairway.

He looked at his Plumber Badge. It was still transmitting a signal to the ship, if they needed a quick extraction, he could call Empher to get the ship next to the entrance they came from.

“Let’s not wait for them to come out then.”

Elyx stepped past Malista and walked down the stairs, rifle aimed forward. Malista shook his head and followed after her. His gut instinct was on high alert, but he said nothing to his partner as the two descended deeper into the cave.

The deeper they went, the more the cave began to fork, splitting into more and more passages. Of course, only a pair of idiots would decide to split when on enemy territory, but they still didn’t know where they were going. There weren’t any sights of humans either, it was starting to look like they were walking through an abandoned mine.

Malista occasionally glanced at his Plumber Badge, checking if there was still a signal. It wasn’t uncommon for most less experienced Plumbers to ignore this and drive into unknown territory without any backup never to be seen again. Those more ‘heroic’ ones that dreamed to become popular like the Plumbers of the Tennysons’ age would deliberately turn off their transmitters. Fools.

Eventually, the two of them reached something… disturbing. Prison cells, dug into the rock with energy fields acting as bars. It was like the prison cells in the Plumber HQ, but far more… uncivilized.

Elyx stepped forward. Good thing that she was wearing a helmet to hide the Uxorite’s disturbed expression. The prisoners looked inside were nothing more than rooting corpses. And if that wasn’t bad enough, those among them that have perished more recently had extremely frail bodies.

“They were starved to death,” Malista growled.

“The more recent ones perished only two days ago,” Elyx muttered.

“We were the first ones to answer the call, and we came as soon as we got told of the situation,” Malista replied. The Bakasheran placed a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “It was just meant to happen.”

“Yeah, it-!” Elyx stopped mid-sentence.

“Elyx?”

“I sense something!” Elyx exclaimed and ran off, stopping next to another cell. “Survivors!”

The Uxorite shouted, pointing at the two prisoners. Both of them were humans. One, a sixteen years old boy with white and red hair, dressed in a mostly black and red outfit with a white dress shirt and a tie. The other one was a fourteen years old girl with white and green hair and a matching outfit.

Both of their outfits looked extremely… outdated. Even Malista and Elyx, neither of which has seen, many humans could recognize the similarity between their outfits and the human fashion of the twenty-first human century.

The two aliens looked down at the trapped humans for a moment before Elyx stretched out her arm and closed her eyes, The energy barrier began to flicker, causing the humans on the other side to back away in fear. After a few more moments, several sparks shot out of the barrier and it disappeared.

“Ok, what did you just do?” Malista asked.

“The generator of each cell is buried underneath it.” Elyx pointed at her feet. “I located it and crushed it.”

“I see...” Malista muttered.

The Bakasheran turned to humans and approach them. The teens slowly backed away from the fully armored masked figure that was slowly approaching them.

“Hey, hey-” Malista stopped in his tracks, noticing their fear. “You’re safe now. We’re the good guys.”

The teens looked at each other in confusion, then turned back to Malista.

“Are you… Plumber?” the boy asked.

“Yes, we are.” Malista nodded, showing off his badge. “I’m Malista and this is my friend, Elyx. We are here to rescue you.”

“Evan.” The boy replied, then gestured toward the girl. “This is Avice, my sister.”

“Akvius mehan prekus.” Avice spoke, bowing before them.

“What did she say?” Malista tilted his head slightly.

“She’s glad to see that help has come,” Evan replied.

“Are our translators broken?” Elyx asked.

“Our colony here was made seven generations ago. We came up with our own language during that time.” Evan informed them. “Nobody has put our new language into your translators, so they can’t translate it.”

Elyx frowned. She looked at the boy, her third eye looking through his mind for any sort of lie. She found none.

“Why were you two locked here?” Malista asked.

“There is a cult that was recently found in our colony - The Eye of Nosyerg. They have an extreme amount of control over our colony and they said that their god Nosyerg demanded a sacrifice, so they locked us away until the ‘ritual’ was ready.”

“Well, their ritual has just been canceled, kid,” Malista responded, raising his badge closer to his face. “Empher, we found survivors; need an extraction. Do you copy?”

There was no response from the other side.

“Empher?” Malista tried again but to no avail. “Damn it, the communicator doesn't work!”

“Who’s Empher?” Evan asked.

“Our partner,” Elyx replied. “He’s with the ship.”

“We can’t take the kids outside without cold gear,” Malista stated.

“We can’t leave them here either. What do we do?”

Malista sighed. That was the big problem with his job - it was sensibility over efficiency. He knew that it was his duty as a Plumber, but it wasn’t like he or Elyx could create suits out of nothing.

Those thoughts were interrupted when a blue arrow lodged into his shoulder. It happened fast, before anyone could react, the projectile knocked Malista.

“Malista!” Elyx cried out!

“Danger!” Evan yelled, pointing forward.

Elyx turned to the direction the boy was pointing to. A twelve feet tall humanoid covered in blue armor with blue light coming from underneath it stepped toward them. The creature had a large yellow-ish bow attached to its left wrist with a string of blue energy connecting the two ends.

Elyx raised her rifle and opened fire, a barrage of green bolts stuck into the blue creature but without any effect. The creature turned its arm slightly toward Elyx and pulled back the string, another blue arrow forming in place.

It fired again, the arrow pierced through Elyx’s rifle and caused it to explode into her arms and knock her on her back.

“What is this thing?” Malista growled, standing back up.

“It’s a Warp Champion,” Evan informed him. “These are creations of Nosyerg feed by the energy that his followers generate with their rituals.”

“And since we didn’t see any of these humans yet...” Malista wanted to curse his luck right now. They knew that a team of Plumbers was coming!

Suddenly, a purple aura surrounded the Warp Champion, causing it to look around in confusion. The aura raised it from the ground, and then, smashed it into the ceiling, knocking it out.

Malista looked back at Elyx. The female Uxorite sat up, large cracks covering her helmet with the armor that covered her arms and chest badly scorched. She reached behind, pressing a button on the back of her helmet that caused it to open and release the tendril-socks that she used to protect her head tendrils.

“She’s alright?” Evan tilted his head in confusion.

“Just barely,” Elyx replied before removing her helmet. She threw it on the ground and stood up. “Luckily the armor took the worst of it. But now I can’t leave either.”

“We must retreat and fix our communicators,” Malista stated.

Elyx nodded and turned toward the teens. Using her powers, she surrounded them in the same purple aura and raised them off the ground before lifting herself and Malista the same way. The four of them then flew off back.

The Warp Champion looked at them from its position on the ground, waiting. Once they were out of its sight, the two silver-colored wings on its back stretched out, the blue skin that covered a part of them quickly increasing to cover the entire wings.

Although Uxorites were excellent with telekinetic abilities and Elyx herself was so strong that she even unlocked telepathy, using these powers for a prolonged period of time was tainting for the more younger members of their species.

Because of that, she was unable to get them close to the entrance they came from, which was probably for the best, given that three out of them would freeze to death the moment they set a foot outside.

So now they were forced to hide in this labyrinth, trying to avoid any cultists or Warp Champions, until the could call to help.

“Is the communicator still not working?” Elyx asked.

“It isn’t. And I don’t know why it suddenly stopped working either!” Malista yelled and raised his arm ready to throw the useless device to the ground.

He stopped, lowering his hand. Closing his eyes, he began to take a deep breath to try and calm himself. Getting angry and destroying their few remaining pieces of equipment was a no-no.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to get rid of that arrow?” Evan asked, pointing at the projectile sticking out of the Bakasheran’s shoulder.

“It’s ok where it is.” Malista waved it off.

At least the arrow was keeping his suit and the wound that it caused, somewhat sealed. Although he would have preferred if he could break it into two, so he doesn’t have a stick coming out of his shoulder, but these arrows weren’t completely physical. They were real, solid and painful, but they seemed more like constructions made out of solid light than arrows made out of wood, or whatever this blue matter was.

“We shouldn’t worry, right?” Evan asked, leaning against a rock. “The Plumbers know that we, or you, are here, so they will send reinforcements, right?”

“We weren’t sent here by the Plumbers, kid,” Malista muttered. “Your governor called us to come to investigate this cult. If we don’t get back to the ship soon Empher will contact Magister Degrax, but I’m not sure when they will send reinforcement, and if they will be able to find the cave.

“Akvius priqte namer.” Avice spoke again.

“What did she say?” Elyx asked.

“She asked where your ship is,” Evan replied.

“What does that matter?” Malista glanced at Avice.

The girl looked back at the masked alien and shrugged. The Bakasheran sighed.

“It’s on Bay Four-Seven-Five,” Malista replied. “Happy?”

Avice didn’t answer. She wasn’t given a chance to answer, because the Warp Champion from before flew past the corner they were hiding behind just as she opened her mouth. The creature flew into the rock wall across from them, but rather than crashing, it stepped on it and used it to lunge itself toward the four.

Elyx and Malista grabbed the humans and jumped to the sides, dodging the sentry’s fist that smashed the rock behind them, carving a hole through it. Malista rolled on the ground behind the Champion. He threw Evan behind himself and pulled out his blaster, firing several shots into the creature’s head. With no effect. Again.

The Champion turned around, giving the Plumber a silent, judgemental stare.

“Well yes, I guess expecting this to have an effect when a heavy rifle did nothing was stupid,” Malista admitted.

The Champion stepped forward, rising his right arm into a fist. The creature threw a push at Malista, when a purple aura surrounded its fist, stopping it from hitting the Bakasheran. A moment later, this aura surrounded the Champion’s entire body and raised it slightly of the ground.

But it wouldn’t this time.

Before Elyx could use her powers to do anything more the Champion threw its left arm in her direction, it's bow expanding out of the wrist. The Champion pulled back the blue string and fired a blind arrow that hit Uxorite in the knee.

With an agonizing scream, Elyx lost her concentration and fell on the ground, the purple aura that surrounded the Warp Champion disappeared and it immediately backhanded Malista across the face, breaking off a piece of his helmet.

The male Plumber dropped on the ground with a loud thud followed by a groan. Before he could try to get back up the Champion stomped on his stomach. The Bakasheran coughed, spitting blood into his helmet.

The Champion pulled its left fist back, the bow turning into two blades that rotated around so they were sticking in front of the creature’s arm. He threw his fist forward again, and again, a purple aura appeared, but instead of simply stopping its fist, this time it smashed the Champion in the ground, trapping it under all of the telekinetic prowess Elyx could muster.

The Warp Champion tried to push itself back up, over and over it tried to move, but the more strength is used, the stronger the telekinetic field that held it down became.

“So, in the end, you are weaker than an Uxorite? That’s disappointing.” The voice that said this shocked Elyx and Malista more than anything else. The Uxorite turned to the side.

After a moment, the purple aura that surrounded the Warp Champion disappeared. Elyx stared at Evan, the spark in her eyes disappearing because of the burning hole carved between her eyes. Her body collapsed out of Malista field of vision. The Bakasheran couldn’t even move much, paralyzed in pain as he choked onto more of his own blood. After a moment, the Warp Champion raised in front of his vision, looking down at it as Avice and Evan joined it, the later holding Malista’s blaster pistol, which was still smoking from the shot.

He knew what was going to happen now. His mind had accepted it already, and his body although still in pain, had calmed down. They were played from the start by a pair of human teens. He didn’t know how they didn’t see it coming, he didn’t know how Elyx failed to read their minds and see that this was all a trap, and in the end, it didn’t matter. But he wanted to know.

“Why?”

The question seemingly caused Evan’s crimson eyes to spark for a moment. A malicious smile plastered over his face and he responded.

“Our family name is Greyson.”

That sentence alone gave the Bakasheran all of the answers. He was afraid now. But now for himself, he had already accepted his fate, but for this planet, for this entire galaxy.

“Akvius-Mineris-Slusha!” At those words of Avice’s, the helmet that covered Malista’s face began to close onto itself; like it was guided by magic.

No, it was guided by magic. Not some strange language like Evan first claimed, her words were spells. A spell that disabled technology silenced their communicators. A spell to locate an ally and let them locate you allowed the Warp Champion to follow after them. And a spell that gave her control over the metals that made Malista’s helmet crushed the Plumber’s head. There were no screams, only the sound of bones being crushed and skin torn apart. His body spasmed for a few seconds before going limp.

He knew that the voices he heard were coming from this Timeline. He just couldn’t understand what the whispers were trying to tell him, at least not until he returned. They had big hopes for the Eternals, these brilliant scientists, put together their minds would have been capable of rivaling even Azmuth’s. But they got wiped out, killed by a group of Plumbers that didn’t mind locking and burning a group of unarmed scientists if someone said that they were a danger.

Really, he could have killed these Xenos the moment they meet. He wouldn’t have needed to place himself in prison just to get to them. Thanks to them he now knew where he was wrong with his approach; of course, if he was going to build a secret cult in the center of the enemy territory he needed someone in a high position to cover it up.

“I’m sorry that it had to come to this.” Avice apologized, kneeling down next to the dead Plumber’s body. “May you find peace in the next life.”

The Warp Champion looked toward Evan, its blue body slowly began to retreat back, turning the twelve feet tall monster into an eleven-year-old girl with short blonde hair and cute pinkish-blue outfit.

“I’m so glad that this is finally over!” Roxy shouted, throwing her arms up. “I was running out of juice keeping this form.”

“I don’t see why you needed it when you couldn’t beat a single Xeno.” Evan retorted.

“Oh!” Roxy pouted, crossing her arms. “Not all of us have fancy mind-powers!”

Evan raised an eyebrow. He turned back and began to walk away from the girls. Their job wasn’t done yet.

“Roxy, you got to burn the bodies,” Evan told the little girl. “Avice, you enjoy the peaceful solutions, so you get to deal with the Governor.”

“And what about you?” Roxy asked.

“I will pay Bay Four-Seven-Five a visit.”

Warp Universe

 * Evan Greyson (first appearance)
 * Avice Greyson (first appearance)
 * Roxy Greyson (first appearance)
 * Captain Leon (first appearance)
 * Red Leader (first appearance; cameo)

Protagonists

 * Malista (first appearance; death)
 * Elyx (first appearance; death)
 * Empher (first appearance)

Trivia

 * Originally the cultists from the Eye of Nosyerg were supposed to make an appearance to show their way of living and fight against the Plumbers but the idea was scrapped because the chapter was going to become needlessly long.