Ossaria

His eyes blinked in three quick successions. The jubbjeek on his fingers that was making its way to the entrance of his mouth halted its journey abruptly.

"Huh?" Confusion reigned over him. "Earth is a big mess? What do you mean?"

Zeva, still standing from her seat, touched the tips of her thumbs and index fingers together, making a circle shape with both hands. A small purple sparkle started inside this airy circle, and when she expanded her fingers, she flourished it with one hand to the front of the group, watching the small glint flash and expand into what looked like a psychedelic-purple coloured spherical hologram. The room, previously dimly lit, now illuminated with a purple blurry glow.

"You know how after that mission where Syrene had the weakening? Well, after she recuperated and was ready again, I did a Digital Link to her, and with her help, she used Cosmoiryant to spiritually infiltrate Earth once more. This side mission was to get more information from that planet. And while she was spiritually in Earth's atmosphere, I did a Data Gather."

"And?" Wefurn simpered. His smile grinned almost wider than his face could handle.

"It was shocking, to say the least."

"Tell me. Tell me. Tell me! Don't keep me in suspense!" He exploded with joy.

"Calm down," Zeva ticked. Her tinted goggles drooped, which she promptly adjusted. "With Data Gather, I managed to download all the important information and resources that we need regarding Earth, before Syrene's aura was completely depleted once more. Half of the information I downloaded were from their own books and encyclopaedias. The other half however, were from something they refer to as the Internet, which by the way, is almost similar to what we have, our Ossystem, except theirs aren't as rigid or as strict as ours. They have so much freedom with it."

Zeva shook her head disapprovingly and then spoke conspiratorially, "Did you know, in a certain depth of the Internet, there are people buying and selling other people? It was horrible, to say the least. Some of the things I managed to download were even WORST than that, for example, there was—"

"—Zeva, do stay relevant," Karkas interjected.

"Okay. Okay. Well," she cleared her throat. "It turns out that these humans are not only somewhat vicious, they're also quite smart! They've made advances in technology in ways we couldn't possibly imagine!"

"My dear Zeva, I'm sorry to interrupt," Truna loftily raised her hand to speak. "We talked about this before. Our lore states that as Earth advances into its Digital Age, that that is a sign we are nearing to the war of the worlds. You do remember this, don't you?"

"Yes, but one can't help but marvel at the amazingness of it all. To think they've achieved all this without the use of magic! No magic! Nada! Wefurn, I assume you would love to have a look and study all this data?"

"Naturally, I assumed this to be preordained!" Wefurn said fervently.

Zeva's fingers were now glowing with a purple hue, and with a simple snap of her fingers, the spherical hologram shifted and repositioned into what looked like regions within a map. The hologram expanded until it was as wide as the mahogany desk, which buzzed periodically, flashing with its intensity and transparency varying. Purple sparkles shimmered.

Her other hand, still glowing with a purple tinge, sparkled as it elongated and shaped into what looked like a purple needle laser pointer.

"Planet Earth is divided into seven main continents," She said, pointing the laser to the parts of the hologram as she spoke. "Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Oceania, which are like our nations: Areola, Pyrera, Zenmeri, Aranox, Peachweather, yada yada yada. Get the gist? Do you want me to go into detail? Because, I haven't really read everything," she scoffed, "Trust me, it is a lot. I hadn't got the time to read it all," she ended with a very awkward laugh.

"I am sure Wefurn will be more than happy to read and memorise them all," said Truna.

"Yep yep yep," chimed Wefurn.

"Alright. My fellow Supremes, I will try to keep this short and simple," Zeva said, almost in a whisper, flicking her wrist, making the purple laser disappear. Then she clasped her hands and positioned them to her front. "Earth is a world in ruins. They face a myriad of issues, though most of them don't concern us. The ones that do, however, are truly worrying. Their world leaders play a sordid game called politics, which apparently runs the gamut. There are some leaders, although benign—or even kind—in nature, that usually don't make it that far in power. The ones that do however, the ones that are truly in power, are utterly evil. Based on my brief study on the data, there have been world leaders in history who have murdered millions of people, simply for their own agendas and ideations. I have gathered this much."

The faces of the Supremes turned grim. The hologram morphed and shifted intermittently into psychedelic pixelated portraits of all the infamous world leaders as Zeva spoke.

"The nations of the Earth have also been at war with one another. They've dubbed them World War One and World War Two. And based on the data, there might be a World War Three forming. They've even built munitions and bombs capable of calamity and mass destruction. They call them nuclear bombs. Russia—one of the nations I studied—they've a disgusting 5,977 nuclear warheads. Why would a country need such a plenitude? I cannot even begin to fathom. Don't even let me get started on their classified files which I managed to hack into. These world leaders may not have magic, but they do have the manmade equivalent of it. It is scary. To think that the fate of our worlds lies in their approval. Furthermore, in most countries, some citizens have their own weapons. They call them guns, similar to the ones our Steampunk class uses. But instead of using aura to shoot, they use something called bullets. In all the countries however, do note that their soldiers have access to these guns that I speak of. Rumbo, as Steampunk Supreme, I am sure you'd like to have a look at this particular set of data?"

Rumbo looked the countenance of someone in his fifties, gaunt-like with craggy lines on his angular face. He wore a black tophat atop his white bed of hair, with eyes that were as maroon as a Papa Meilland rose in full bloom. One of them was graced with a monocle made from tiny-sized gold gears which spun on its own axis. He had a small nose like a button, with a white pompous moustache that was full and curled at the sides. He wore a brass waistcoat that had intricate rhinestone embellishments on it, and his arms were tightly fitted with brass-like prosthesis which clunked and had steam releasing from them.

"Intriguing... Very intriguing... It would be an honour... Zeva...." Rumbo said.

"Does your Digital Null disable their weapons?" Asked Vorrus.

"Yes. Yes it does. It disables their nuclear bombs at least," said Xelphy, as she stood from her seat. "Two days ago, Syrene, Zeva, Lovo and I teleported to a random nuclear power plant on Earth and Zeva did a wide scale Digital Null, and it worked. According to Syrene, chaos ensued after among the humans, she could feel the raucous and hubbub, but we quickly warped back to Ossaria."

"Oh the drama! I would have loved to see that!" Giggled Wefurn as he munched on another jubbjeek.

"But whether or not Digital Null affects their guns, well, that is still inconclusive," Xelphy finished, taking back her seat.

"There's something I don't understand," said Truna as she majestically raised her hand. "How does their politics and weapons affect us?"

"Oh. n. mny wa-ys, Tr-na!" Said Wefurn with his cheeks puffed up, munching on a mouthful of jubbjeeks. They waited for him to finish chewing. Truna tapped at the desk with her fingers impatiently. After a moment, he finally spoke,

"Well, let's say that the world leaders decide to partake in the upcoming war. What will we do then? What if they are not on our side? What if they get brainwashed or hexed by the darkened of Devarions to go against us? Or worse, what if they joined forces with Devarion? Don't forget, the Devarions have their own TeleMagi. If you think their weapons cannot reach us, they very well could, through them. And yes, technically, we have an abundance of Technoghasts, and they could just Digital Null the nuclears. But what about their guns? What about their other weapons? We can barely stay on par with Devarions, it would be much harder if these aliens of Earth decide to join in on the 'fun'. These, I think, are some of the possible conundrums to think about," explained Wefurn.

"And based on the classified data that I have gathered," Zeva interjected. "Some of their countries have plans set out for world domination. A new world order. A sovereign, under one ultimate government. Perhaps you could say, these countries have goals to be...like us. And so anything can happen," said Zeva.

"That would be foolish!" Exclaimed Xelphy. "If they join forces with Devarions, Devarions will only target them next."

"But they don't know that," Karkas croaked.

Wefurn's face suddenly turned tight, like how infants would when they focused on taking a dump. Suddenly, after failed attempts to suppress it, he sneezed unceremoniously. The sound reverberated around the room, with specks of spittles landing on the desk, visibly corroding it.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Too much jubbjeeks.. Hehe," said Wefurn, with a hint of ruefulness on his face as he wiped himself using a napkin. Syrene was shaking her head disapprovingly, but was smiling.

The sneeze provided a temporary lull in the discussion. After a moment, he finally spoke again, "This may be off topic, but Zeva! Tell me more! More! Tell me about.. Their social mores. What these aliens of planet Earth do to pass the time. What are they like? Do they have fun events like the ones we have on the Digital Battle Dome? What is their Digital Battle Dome equivalent? What about their Market Place? Do they have their own kind of aura capsules, what about Gachapon machines on Earth? Do they have them? TELLLL MEEEEE...!!" He gesticulated as he spoke, with a tinge of desperation mixed with fervour.

"Holy Ancients, calm down Wefurn," chortled Syrene.

"They're odd. They're really weird. As you analyse the data, Wefurn, you will know what I mean. Their people have a proclivity for worshipping numerous digital platforms, which as Technoghast Supreme, even I myself find very questionable. There's Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, Tik Tok. Actually, there's a lot of it. Most of them frequent these platforms obsessively on the daily without a heck of care about anything that happens in the world around them. It is pitiful, but also highly intriguing," said Zeva.

With a wave of her hand, the hologram then shuffled and pixelated into an image of a lady who was bare naked with her voluptuous bum showing.

"Here you can see an image of a lady named Kim Kardashian with her bum out. I think she is their Supreme equivalent, because apparently everyone seems to worship the ground she walks on. I think that's her specialty spell, her bum. There's even a salacious video of her which I will now—"

"—Zeva, I am sure Wefurn will be more than happy perusing this data on his own time," interrupted Karkas.

"I agree with Karkas. And perhaps, in regards to those countries with goals of complete dominion, we shall worry about that at a later time. For now, let's focus on the next important topic on our agenda, our tactics for the full scale gathering mission," said Vorrus, and in turn, Wefurn frowned and slouched on his throne, his disappointment visible.

Zeva waved off her hologram and sat, and the brightness of the room turned back into almost darkness.

Vorrus was the paradigm example of power. As Steelhammer Supreme, he did not disappoint. He always led the council's meetings. It was something innate. Steelhammers were born leaders. Even the preceding Steelhammer Supremes led the council meetings.

One of the hallmark traits of a Steelhammer was their judicious capabilities to lead a pack. Oftentimes, the top ranked guilds in Ossaria were led by Steelhammers. Leading for Vorrus came naturally much like breathing does for humans, champions and the darkened.

In stark contrast to Syrene's now pitiful thirtieth place, Vorrus had placed rank one in last year's Digi-damage tourney extravaganza. To say that Vorrus was the strongest Steelhammer or Supreme of all Supremes, let alone the strongest champion in Ossaria would be indubitable. Currently, as things stood, Vorrus was at his zenith, in terms of power. He knew this, everyone on the panel knew this. Citizens of Ossaria knew this for sure.

Don't let his pallid complexion fool you though. With his pale and unhealthy looking complexion, most would assume that he was sick. The truth of the matter was, that was due to the prodigious amount of aura he contained. His body was a vessel for aura. So much so that even his body almost couldn't handle it. And sadly, it showed.

Being only twenty five this year—the youngest and also strongest Steelhammer Supreme to have ever grace the world of Ossaria—he had the face of someone in his late forties, which was nothing short from the consequences in his meddlings with Aura Manipulation—a forbidden practice that was widely shunned in Ossaria because of its harmful effects. Vorrus however, was a master of Aura Manipulation, but with a death wish. He would not live a day over thirty, and this was the consensus to all. But with a short lifespan at the expense of immense power, he'd chosen this sacrifice, this way of life, and thus was considered admirable by many. Worshipped, by some.

He stood incredibly tall, at one hundred and ninety eight centimetres, with a frame replete with chunks of pure lean heavy muscle. He had beautiful dreamy blue bulbous eyes which contradicted his power however. His hair, faux hawk bright yellow, rested upon his broad sized head. But perhaps the only average thing about him was his long nose and small sized lips.

"Which countries are our groups targeting first?" Questioned Vorrus.

"Singapore, Japan, United States of America, Malaysia, Canada, South Africa, England, Norway, Taiwan, China and Ecuador," Karkas croaked. "This set of countries has been chosen arbitrarily. If we are successful, we shall continue with the others."

"May I suggest something, Vorrus?" said Zeva.

"Of course, Zeva."

"We should have an additional group dispatched to the United Nations' Headquarters."

"Kindly, elaborate, Zeva."

"They are an intergovernmental organisation that was established after World War two. Based on my data, the UN was made to uphold and maintain international peace and security. And after hacking into their classified files, I've gathered that their motives are indeed credible. They have representatives from every country. If we were to send a group to their headquarters, and warn them about our situation, perhaps it might make things easier. Their representatives might relay this information to their respective countries, and our mission can move along much more smoothly. But perhaps... You should lead this group, Vorrus. I do not doubt you will be able to persuade them," she suggested.

"Where is their headquarters?"

"They have multiple. But their main one is in the United States of America, New York."

"You should have mentioned this sooner, Zeva," said Wefurn.

"I am sorry. The data is vast.... It is just too much.. My brain cannot compute. I only specialise in combat, hacking and disarming. I do not have your brains, Wefurn," she sighed.

"This changes everything," he sighed back.

Vorrus closed his eyes, turning pensive for a moment. The panel waited for his answer, but the wait did not last one bit long, his blue eyes shone as his eyelids lifted.

"Very well, I will lead this other group. I think, with this new bit of information, we shall revise our next course of actions. Wefurn, new tactical strategy, if you will?" Instructed Vorrus.

"Ok, but first, a short respite! Have a look at my new spell!" said Wefurn as he rummaged through his pockets. After a while, which in fact seemed like a long time, he brandished out another gold coin and threw it at the centre podium. The look of confused faces on the panel was picture worthy.

Truna cocked her head and said, "Very questionable."

"No, this is the best bit!" Clasping his hands together and focusing on them, he watched an orange hue brighten, then he screeched, "Bambazoola!"

Truna muttered haughtily, to no one in particular, "I'm so done with his antics.."

He suddenly swapped places with the coin, appearing at the centre of the room, with the gold coin comfortably occupying his throne.

"How about that? Syrene, Xelphy, score?" He put a finger to his lower lip in excited anticipation.

"That's neat!" Syrene applauded with joy. "You can do what Xelphy does! That's a three out of fiv—"

"—Mmmm.. No. That's a one from me. You lack originality. And I, Xelphy, as TeleMagi Supreme, is duly unimpre—"

"One?! One?! You give me—"

"—Wefurn! If you will!" Vorrus roared, his voice trembled the room, Syrene, Truna and Solso took hold of their chalices in case it tumbled. Wouldn't have been the first time.

"My Ancients, okay," said Wefurn. His diminutive size was noticeable, from the perspectives of the Supremes that sat on their thrones, he looked like a creature's head popping up in a game of whack a mole.

"I'm going to write down our new and completely updated strategy for this mission. From start to finish. Everything will be up for discussion after I finish writing them!"

He crouched for a moment, and then leaped up, staying adrift on air. Then, an orange glow shimmered on his index finger, and he began to write with it on air.

He wrote with much alacrity, whizzing and manoeuvring clumsily as he went, keeping the panel in rapt mesmerisation. His written tactics, as usual, were succinct, clear and straightforward, nothing but expected from the smartest Supreme in Ossaria.

In the Digi-damage tourney extravaganza, Wefurn had placed second, which then sparked a debate in the Ossystem Forums between champions on whether his prowess and brains triumphed over Vorrus altogether. In spite being from the same guild, the debate had since caused a mini rivalry between the two of them.

When Wefurn was done, he simpered, looking pleased with his work. They took a moment to absorb everything that was written. Some of them averted their gaze to Vorrus.

"Anything up for discussion?" Questioned Vorrus.

They all sat solemnly. No one raised their hands, none of them nodded or shook their heads, or made any movement of sorts. Wefurn whizzed his way back onto his seat.

"As you all know, the fate of our world lies on this mission coming to fruition. I cannot emphasise how imperative this is. And now, like how our meeting has been done for millennia, it is now time to conclude with a vote. Raise of hands, if you agree with this next course of action," instructed Vorrus.

All their hands shot up.

"Very well.... It is decided.. Zeva, Xelphy, Lovo, Syrene, Karkas, Truna, Solso, Wefurn, Rumbo," he said solemnly, taking a moment to compose his breath, "I thank you all for today's attendance, and your contributions to the world of Ossaria, as catalysts of monumental change. We shall begin with this mission... Immediately."

"Yipee!" Cheered Wefurn. "Syrene, high five?"