48th of Baratus, 3000
3716 days to the Cataclysm

In a dark underground fortress under the Empire of Parvus, a woman sat still in a closed room, alone. A few hours ago, she instructed her subordinate to ensure she wasn't disturbed. She hated being interrupted while she was in the middle of what she called 'Transcending into the Jungle.' It was a ritual she would perform whenever she wanted to feel connected to the world.

She would close her eyes and find herself amid a thick, foggy jungle. She could hear the chirping birds and the stridulating crickets. She could feel the soft grass under her feet easing its way into flatness with every step. She could see tiny circles of light on her body that danced along with the trees. She could smell the pungent odor of decomposed leaves. She walked through this jungle along a path she had traversed many times before. At the end of it, like always, she would find herself looking at a large pond.

At this pond, she felt like the most powerful being in the world, like a god. She undressed and felt the cold air of the jungle bite at her skin as she closed her eyes and slowly walked into the pond until her head was below water.

"Ezekiel Lionclaw," she whispered.

The water around her started to swirl, and before she knew it, she found herself in a large room where eight people gathered around a short man.

"For Shirozou Elric, Fire. For Vanessa Zorgenkind, Wind. For Alexa Costanzo, Ice. For Carleton Richards, Sand." said the man.

"I see the redhead can't do shit to me as well," said another person.

The woman had never heard that voice before, but deep down, she knew to whom it belonged. A feeling, a strange sense of familiarity told her that this person was, in fact, Ezekiel Lionclaw.

"What do you mean?" replied a red-haired man.

"Just like Kurokami there, fire doesn't affect silver. Come on, give it a shot, give me all you've got." mocked Zeke.

He left the group and walked in the direction of the woman but the moment he made eye contact with her, he froze.

"What's the matter, Zeke?" asked the red-haired man.

"I don't know. I feel like someone is here," he replied.

Before the woman could react, she felt something violently pull her back, and everything became a blur. A few moments later, she found herself back underwater, being tossed around by a whirlpool.

She was unable to stop phasing in and out of different locations and eventually was flung through a rock wall. She groaned in pain and got up, only to be blinded by the sun. She looked around and saw nothing but a barren land until she made eye contact with a little black-haired boy covered in blood.

Before she could say a word, she was once again pulled back violently by something, and the cycle occurred once again. This time she found herself in a small room. She looked around and saw the words 'I QUIT' written in blood on a wall. Before she could make sense of it, she was once again pulled back, and the cycle continued.

As she phased in and out of locations, she saw a dragon breathing fire down on her, she saw thousands of soldiers engaging in battle with beings made of pure blood, she saw a man with long white hair and a body full of scars strumming his guitar.

The cycle continued for what seemed like a lifetime. She knew she had to do something, so she closed her eyes and channeled all her mental prowess into regaining control. Every time she was close to reaching stability, a certain feeling would pull her back into the madness. Every time, the feeling was different. Sometimes it was the feeling of her flesh burning. Sometimes it was the feeling of soft lips locking with her own. Sometimes it was the feeling of having her heart ripped out. Whatever it was, it intrigued her enough to pull her back in.

She thought she would never leave this nightmare until she finally felt something rip through her throat. This time, she knew it was real. She stopped phasing, and found herself back in her room, looking up at her subordinate.

"Wh-at did you do?" she managed to say, as she held a deep wound in her neck.

"Executing your command, My lord," replied her subordinate, a fair man with green eyes and black hair.

She gave him a nod of approval, and her muscles weakened. Her hand slumped, and the little blood that still ran through her veins, trickled out of her wound as her life slowly faded away.

Her subordinate picked up the body and propped it up on the chair. He went to the other side of the room and waited. Minutes later, the woman forced her eyes open, and she gasped for air. The blood on the floor started to boil and eventually disappeared while the wound on her neck was no longer visible. She leaned back onto the chair and said;

"I guess that's two now, eh?"

"Yes, my lord. Do you mind telling me what happened?" the man replied.

"You were right, Zach. Your brother Zeke could feel my presence when I went to him, and that sent me into a spiral. I have no idea what I saw. Just an assortment of random visions that made no sense."

"I see, my lord. I've gathered five of the six men you asked for. Once we get them to comply, we can take down Zeke and then the Vasilian throne is all yours."

"Five?"

"Yes, my lord. It turns out Frank Adniraz is stubborn. He won't join us."

"I'll persuade him later. Do you have the rest here?"

"Yes, they're waiting right outside the room."

"Good, let's pay them a visit."

She got up from her chair and left the room. Right outside, five men were seated in anticipation of someone. The woman instructed Zach to join them, and she faced the rest.

"My name is Armina Lionclaw. My subordinate, Zachariah Lionclaw must have told you why I called you all here. So each one of you step forward, state your name, your abilities, and tell me why you belong here." she said.

A medium-height bald brown man got up and said;

"My name is Kevin Concubitus. I am a Rock Xenocyte. I want the freedom to fulfill my sexual desires to the fullest."

The rest of the group burst into laughter.

"SILENCE!" said Armina sternly. The group grew silent, and Armina continued;

"That's acceptable. All I need is for you to have a goal, that's all. I don't care what it is. All I need is to make sure you will work yourself to the bone to complete our mission. Are you willing to do that?" said Armina.

"If it means getting laid, every single day for the rest of my life, it's worth the risk," replied Kevin.

"Good, be seated. Who is next?"

A fair man with medium length blue hair and large rectangular glasses stood up and said;

"I am Oscar Freeze. I'm an Ice Xenocyte, and all I want is shit loads of cash. Like, unlimited cash. I want to be able to buy anything in the world."

"When we ascend to the throne, I assure you that you will be the richest man on the planet."

"Sweet, I'm in," he replied and sat back down.

A dark-skinned man with hair of the same color that reached down to his hips got up and said;

"I'm Raynard Beckett. I'm a Water Xenocyte. I like how people taste, but apparently, we have laws against it, so I hope when we ascend to the throne, an exception can be made for me."

"Consider it done."

There was only one man left on a floating chair.

"Are you disabled or something?" asked Armina.

"Nope, I don't like standing up, too much work. Getting to the point, I'm Amondre Ignavia, A Sapiocyte, but I don't have an Imperium or something because I'm a scientist. I just don't wanna do anything."

"So, your goal is to be lazy?" asked Raynard.

"Precisely. If I have to go through a few years of work for a lifetime of sloth, so be it."

"Works for me," said Armina.

"So, we're done. I have one more man in mind, Frank Adniraz." she continued.

"The monster?" asked Raynard.

"Yes. He will be a strong addition to our cause."

"Didn't he settle down with his wife or something?" asked Amondre.

"Yes, but let's just say I have a way to persuade people."

"Yeah, he settled down with his wife. You can't seduce him to come with us," mocked Raynard.

"I'm a woman, and you're a homosexual man. I didn't seduce you to come, yet you're here."

"That's completely different. I'm not Frank. I came by my own free will."

"Did you?" said Armina, with a smirk across her face.

"Well, let me tell you about myself. I'm a Silver Xenocyte, but in addition to that, I'm also a prophet."

"A prophet? What do you mean?" asked Oscar.

"It means the power of the Lion Goddess, Xaera, runs through my veins."

"And why should we believe you?" asked Amondre.

"Look into my eyes. A right blue eye and a green left eye. That's the sign of a prophet."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's a genetic condition. It's called Heterochromia Iridis."

"Is this a genetic condition?" replied Armina.

The room grew silent, and an eerie sense of fear swept over everyone. Armina's right eye began to spiral, as the blue slowly dissociated into green. A long hairy tail grew out of her lower back, and her nails began to morph themselves into sharp claws. Her long black hair gradually changed into a shade of brown, and she let out a low, animal-like growl.

"Kneel!" she said.

Without a word, everyone in the room got out of their seats and went on one knee.

"I am Armina Lionclaw, the Prophet of Xaera. Every being that has the fortune of being in my presence is inclined to obey me. You think you came by your own free wills, but that couldn't be further from the truth. You came because I wanted you to come."

"Yes, my lord." said everyone in unison.

"Good, now get up. We have things to discuss," she said as her appearance turned back to normal.

Everyone returned to their prior positions, determined to follow this woman to the very end.

"Okay, so listen. Before we take over the Vasilian throne, we must take care of something else. Zachariah's brother, Ezekiel Lionclaw, can somehow interrupt my abilities. That can cause some major issues. We have to kill him before he becomes a problem. He's part of an Eirinian Squad called A412. To get to him, we have to wipe them out as well. As simple as that."

Armina took out a spherical object from her pocket and tossed it onto the floor. From it, a hologram popped out and projected life-size models of the squad.

"I know these two," said Raynard, pointing at Alexander and Alexandria.

"How do you know them?" asked Armina.

"We were friends as kids. Fun fact, their father committed a crime, so the entire family was exiled and were living in poverty. Their condition got so bad that their mother, chopped up their father and fed him to her kids. I was there when Alexander found out about that. He left the kitchen with his mother, but I was curious. I tasted it and ever since I've been addicted to it."

"Now that is extremely messed up. Do you have information about them that can help us?" asked Zachariah.

"Alexandria would do anything for her brother, and he is pretty weak, so we can get rid of her through him, but both of them are Shadow Xenocytes, and those types can get very dangerous you know."

"That is helpful information. Anyone else with anything?" asked Armina.

"Yes. My lord, I think this is a bad idea," said Kevin.

"And why is that?"

"See, I'm a prostitute. A man called Jeremiah Vetrov hired me. The dude had a gigantic d-"

"Just get to the point," interjected Armina.

"Yeah so, Jeremiah hired dozens of prostitutes. He said he wanted to have the world's longest orgy. It was-"

"I SAID GET TO THE POINT!" snapped Armina.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. I was saying, Emperor Randel of Eirini comes in, and I have no idea how he did it, but every single prostitute just ceased to exist. I heard no screams. One second they were there and the other they were gone. Then Jeremiah goes out, and apparently, they know each other, so they had this long conversation about ethics and stuff. They even referred to Zark as 'Kenny' and strongly implied that they had a vivid history together. The thing is, Randel wants to build a utopia for his daughter, and he said the world must believe he is noble for that to happen. After that, Jeremiah was gone too. The point is, Randel's daughter means everything to him; I don't think going after her would be a good idea."

"Why did Randel spare you?" asked Zach.

"He didn't. Jeremiah and I were just done with a session, so I was taking a dump in the bedroom's toilet. He probably didn't know I was there."

"You got so lucky. When we ascend to the throne and our stories are heard throughout the world, you better come up with something better than 'I'm alive because I took a dump at the proper time.' Anyway, what do you think about this, my lord?" replied Zach.

"That certainly causes a problem. You said something about Zark and Randel?"

"Yes, they probably have a history together, from the looks of it, they seemed to be very close back in the day," replied Kevin.

"I see. Amondre, can you look into it?"

"Yes, I can try," he replied.

"Good. We find out all about him. We leak it to the world. The moment they find out that Randel has a history with the usurper himself, he's going to be too preoccupied with riots to deal with us. That's when we strike. Do we have a plan?"

"YES, MY LORD!" said everyone in unison.

"Now, it's time for me to pay Frank Adniraz a visit, let me see what this monster is all about," said Armina.