Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword or the characters in the game.

A/N: Special thanks to Tiffany, my girlfriend, for taking the time and proofreading this story for me. Here's another one. Having a lot of fun writing this and I'm looking to see this to the end. Yes there will be a definite end and there will be a lot of things that will change the characters for better or for worse. Some may agree, others may disagree (and I know a number of you will absolutely hate/love me with what will happen in the future of this story) but I find a dynamic character who has learned something is a lot more interesting than one that remains the same through out the story. Again, the story will loosely follow the plot laid out by the game but will still hit key plot scenes. Also for the record, I did NOT know Add was the one who gave the blueprints for the Nasod Inspector to Wally. Thanks for telling me c: If I DO miss something like that, sorry in advance. The focus, after all, is on Chung and I will omit some things (on purpose or by accident) to further my version of Chung's story. Enjoy!

The Celestial String: a line of stars cutting across the night sky that can be traced from the north star, known as the Nape, down to the south star, known as the Tail. If the young prince's sense of directions were right, they must have been traveling on the road in a south-eastern direction for most of the evening. He had only travelled this road twice in his life: once to help fend off the demons in Velder, and again on the trip back to Elder. It must have been a year ago since he had last been to the red city. If memory served him, they were getting close to Pilgrim's Pass.

Since the attack seven days ago, the caravan had learned to rely on Chung a little more for protection. Thankfully, he wasn't needed for the journey thus far. The worst the caravan had to deal with was a broken axel on the third day while traversing across Bethma valley.

This was surprising in it's own way, considering the numerous tribes of Lizardmen that inhabited hundreds of plateaus across the valley. The Lizardmen were taller than the average human, boasting big, snake-like heads and rows of razor-sharp teeth so numerous and disposable that they often used broken ones to tip their arrows or serate their blades.

Shamanistic in nature, these Lizardmen adorned their bodies with feathers and hides of their greatest hunts and dot their territories and roads with totems depicting the many gods they worshipped.

The roads that cut through Bethma Valley used to be heavily occupied with these humanoids but-according to Aisha-she, Elsword and Rena had struck a deal with one of the more influential shamans of one of the bigger tribes. Chacha Buch was the Lizardman's name and he sought help from the humans living in Bethma village when some evil force was driving his fellow tribesmen into a blood frenzy. This all happened before Chung met Elsword and the others so he wasn't there to experience it for himself- but from the details in Aisha's story, the campaign of cleaning the corruption was almost as bloody as the fight for Velder. Seeing the thousands of totems that lined the road merely echoed what Chung imagined had been a massacre a few years prior.

The caravan had to be careful around these totems along the journey for some were known to be enchanted with magic that could cause severe injury or death to those who drew too close. Fortunately, the wagons encountered only one of these kinds of totems which resulted in the broken axel on the third day. The wagon in question drew too close to a flame totem, one that depicted the skull of a dragon whose maw spat a plume of fire, scaring one of the cockatigles into a mad sprint. The wagon it drew was forced off of the road and into a ditch that knocked the front wheels off, effectively grounding the wagon for most of the morning.

Since then, the drivers had grown extremely cautious around the totems, slowing down their daily progress and forcing their journey to continue well into the night between checkpoints. This was the seventh night and definitely the last, seeing as they crested the edge of the valley earlier in the morning and were traveling to make up lost ground.

The yellow half-moon that hung in the sky cast a dim light over the flat terrain and for the first time in this leg of the trip Chung didn't have to worry about careening off the edge of a steep cliff. What lay ahead of them, however, was a land of desolation. This was Feita, a big open valley walled by mountains that spanned from Bethma all the way to Velder. Crossing this valley would take another five days if they were swift.

It must have been close to midnight when they reached Pilgrim's Pass indicated by the single Velder watchtower. The lone watchtower had a large Velder banner draped on its western face; a sign to outsiders coming in that they were approaching Velder's kingdom. The tower was occupied by a few soldiers and stood among what used to be a fortified outpost. Now all that remained around the tower were remnants of stone walls that once stood two-stories high. The tower overlooked a clearing that rested right beside an old graveyard. The graveyard was yet another remnant of the old outpost and, judging by the size, was the final resting place of at least a hundred proud soldiers and knights.

"Aren't there ghosts?" Pet said as the wagons pulled into the clearing next to the graveyard.

"Sometimes," Vinny said with a half shrug before giving her a smile.

Pet's eyes widened and darted from tombstone to tombstone. "Really?" If she had been sleepy, it would have been all but gone now. "Roger? Are there really ghosts?"

The tall soldier, who had been dozing the entire time, snorted awake. "What? Huh? Where are we?"

"Pilgrim's Pass," Pet said, "Are there really ghosts?"

Roger rolled on his side, turning away from her. "Sure thing… Go for it…" The man had been sleeping most of the trip. His wounds were getting better but it hurt for him to even sit up, according to the guy, leaving Chung to do most of the manual labor such as setting up camp and gathering firewood for the elderly wagoners.

"Chung?" Pet looked to him now, eyes wide with anxiety.

The prince had been in deep thought when they entered Feita. Not a lot of good memories came from this area but he did spend a lot of time here during the initial trip to Velder. Chung gave a nervous laugh. "Ah… well…" He scratched his nose. He knew the answer she wanted to hear but that would be lying. "They… don't show up often. Ghosts, I mean. Demons more so than ghosts but they shouldn't be since the closing of the… gate…"

It was dark but Chung could see he didn't really help as she trembled in nearly palpable fear.

"I mean, you shouldn't see any… It's only if we disturb their grave or-"

"We'll be fine, Pet," Vinny reassured her and pointed up at the watch tower that overlooked the clearing. "Velder soldiers are up there watching over this place day and night and they're unharmed. Plus you got Chung and the rest of us here to protect you. Ain't that right, boy?"

Chung smiled. "Of course. There isn't anything I can't beat. I'll fight off any ghost that comes close to wagons. You'll see."

Pet clutched his forearm tightly. "You better not be lying."

Vinny laughed, "We'll keep the fire fed for you. Don't you worry."

Despite their reassurance, Pet didn't seem too convinced that they were safe and this became apparent after the travelers had finished setting up camp and were turning in for the night. When the snores of the elderly filled the air and Chung was beginning to doze off, himself, Pet was the only one awake and tending to the embers. Every now and then she'd look over her shoulder as if expecting to see some pale-skinned specter. Luckily for her, Chung wasn't fully asleep yet. It was hard to with Mud snoring right next to him, anyways, so he kept an eye on the girl for some time before getting out of his bed roll to join her by the campfire.

"See any ghosts?" Chung asked, catching the girl looking over her shoulder again at the sound of him approaching.

She shook her head.

Chung smiled. "Don't worry. Any bad spirits that had been here are gone now, along with the demons that manifested them."

"How do you know that?" Pet asked.

The prince looked up at the night sky, the moon had already cleared the valley leaving more of the constellation visible for him to admire. "Me and my friends made sure of it."

Pet tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Have you heard about the demons that attacked Velder about a year and a half ago?"

The girl shook her head, drawing her legs closer to her chest. "Well… a little. I think it was on the newspaper but I never learned how to read."

"Oh. Well, would you believe me if I said me and my friends vanquished the demons back and closed the gate of darkness?"

Pet sat up, shaking her head in disbelief. "Did you really?"

Chung nodded. "It actually all started here, in Feita. Up at the top of Feita temple. We'll actually pass by it along the way to Velder. The architecture of the building itself is really quite magnificent… when demon's aren't pouring out from it, of course."

"So there's no more demons there?"

"None. We made sure of it when we shut the gate."

"You and your friends did? You all sound in...incredible!"

Chung sighed, "Yeah…"

Pet saw the smile of his fade. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Chung said with a shake of his head.

"Did… one of your friends… die-"

"No… thank goodness no. It's just…" Chung didn't know how to explain it. There was a lot of things he wanted to get off his chest since he left the group two weeks ago and he had no one he felt he could just vent to.

"Where are your friends now?"

Chung shrugged. "Bethma, I believe. Raven wanted to establish a base of operations and they were going to investigate something but I wasn't listening-"

"Were they mean to you?" Pet asked, "Is that why they kicked you out?"

Chung saw a fire in the girl's eyes that he felt was misguided. He reached out and patted the girl on her head, his smile returned. "Calm down, Pet. No, they weren't mean. I left on my own accord."

"Why?"

"Different priorities."

"Oh…"

They were silent for a long moment and Chung felt that his answer was disappointing to his little listener. He opened his mouth to speak again but she jumped in before he could say more.

"What is 'priorities'?"

"Huh?"

"You use a lot of big words, Chung. Like priorities and… ark… arka… arkature…"

"Architecture."

"And… there was a few more."

"How old are you, again?" Chung asked.

"Twelve… I know. I'm not as smart as the average kid. I was never sent to school…" Pet said, eyes dropping.

"When I was your age I didn't go to school, either," Chung said in an attempt to make her feel better.

"How'd you get so smart, then?"

"I… had a personal teacher." He suddenly remembered that he still needed to apologize to Aisha for the way he treated her during the last night they were together.

"Your friends, again?"

"Yeah…"

"You always bring them up. But you never really talk about them. What were they like?"

"They're all different people from different walks of life. They all have their goals and we all manage to stick together despite going on long campaigns where we don't see each other for several months."

"How did you all meet?"

"That's a long story."

"I'm not sleepy."

Chung looked at her and he could see the genuine curiosity in her eyes now. "Well… if you really want me to go into detail…"

"Just not big words, okay?"

Chung laughed, "I'll try and remember."


He didn't want to say it but the mission was an absolute failure. All back up plans from A to Z had been compromised and the group of five had no choice but to retreat. Where they could retreat to was another problem all on its own as their only exit had been blocked and their only choice was to move deeper into the massive metal fortress.

Chung was the last through the thick blast door since he had to lug around a large Hamelian destroyer. Darkness engulfed them as the door shut behind them with a loud slam. The sound of metal on metal echoed loudly in the chamber they were locked in and it took some time before the pounding on the door ceased. They waited, half expecting the deafening echoes to pick up at any moment.

"Is everyone okay?" A rough voice of a man broke the silence and the sounds of the rest of the party breathing a synchronized sigh of relief was a good enough answer.

"I can't see," the voice of a young boy said, "Anyone got a light?"

"I do," a girl said. Moments later a dim amber flame flickered to life as the tip of the girl's magical staff illuminated their surroundings. She had purple hair, purple eyes, and wore the white uniform representing the magical school she was currently studying in. Her name was Aisha. From what Chung had seen, she possessed powerful spells that bent the elements to her will. She puffed at the winged staff as if blowing into a kindling flame and the light grew bright enough for them to see each other's faces.

"Where are we?" the boy with flame-red hair asked as he scanned the large room. Dressed in a red and black trainee's garb, the knight-in-training poked at some strange devices with a red blade bearing a white cross. This was Elsword. A 13-year-old boy with incredible swordsmanship. Like the rest of the fortress they had infiltrated, they were surrounded by metal. Technology far more advanced than anything else in the world lined these walls and covered the floor before them.

"A dead end, looks like," the elf accompanying them replied. Her voice was like the wind. The magical blade at her hip looked far-less used than the worn bow she gripped tightly on her left hand. Long green hair cascaded down past her hips and was wrapped loosely in black lace to keep it from flying everywhere. Rena was clearly the oldest, being an elf, and her authority over the younger members was something Chung was quick to pick up on. "But we should be close to our destination if this 'king' of theirs really is at the very bottom of this facility."

"Are you sure this is a good idea, kid? I'm sorry, what was your name, again?" the man said. He had black hair and was dressed in a clean white top and black pants. He carried a saber on his right hand and had a strange robotic left arm which he kept tightly wrapped and unused in white cloth. This was Raven, a veteran swordsman who outright refuses to use his robotic arm. They had all met only days ago and this was their first big mission together. Chasing bounty was what brought these people together and they all had a common goal: reach the Nasod King.

"Chung," the young boy responded. He was clearly the youngest in the group seeing as he was nearly a head shorter than the boy with the red hair. He had blond, bowl-cut hair with small brown tips on two locks and bright, innocent, cyan eyes that were both eager and anxious for their next move. He donned white plated armor that looked far too big for his small stature and carried a cannon that was almost twice his size.

"Right," Raven said, "We're already neck deep in Nasod territory with a swarm of Type-W9s on our heels. For every one we cut down the foundry quickly produces two to take it's place. At this rate I don't see why we can't just destroy the king's core and end it there. Why even bother trying to reason with it when those things are trying to kill us every step of the way?"

Chung nodded. He was right. But at the same time he couldn't shake the memory of his encounter with the two rogue Nasods: Ignis and Leviathan. Nasods-as Chung had learned from history books and the many personal encounters since he arrived on this floating island-were mindless machines. The ones that survived to this day were mere shadows of a great war that ended over a thousand years ago; an empty husk of steel with no ability to think and feel for their own. They drilled rocks with no valuable minerals, watered dirt of a non-existent garden, and killed anything that wasn't a Nasod on-sight. They were a threat to the peaceful Ponggos who shared the floating island with these machines and Chung swore that he would destroy every last one of these machines. At least that was before he met Ignis and Leviathan.

The two machines he encountered in the Nasod Testing fields had broken free from this mysterious Nasod King's network and developed their own cognitive thought. This separated them from the mindless machines that answered to no one but their king and this uniqueness was why they had been targeted for interrogation by Raven. They refused to cooperate, of course, fearing that Raven and the others only wanted to enslave them. Before they died by Raven's blade, they both turned to Chung. He had no idea why they chose him, but as the light faded from their visual sensors, they both said in unison, "Save. Our. King."

"I know… I hate these machines just as much as you do, Raven, but…" It all sounded so stupid, now. Why was he thinking otherwise? Because two robots he considered enemies told him not to? But what if these machines had cognitive thought? What if each one was a unique life enslaved by the Nasod King? Would destroying the core, thus killing all Nasods within the network be the best option?

"I'm with you." A hand fell on his shoulder and Chung turned to see Elsword, a big confident grin on his face. "If Chung says we can reason with this Nasod King, I'm all for it. And if we can't then we can just destroy the core, right? We have to at least try."

"Thanks, Elsword," the boy said.

"Don't thank me, yet," he said as he went back to exploring the room, "Thank me after the Ponggos and Nasods get along and we have a giant banquet to celebrate!"

Chung watched as Elsword continued poking around and he couldn't help but smile at that optimism. It was stupid but it helped.

"Fine," Raven said with a sigh. Chung could tell from the man's face that he was running less than favorable scenarios in his head. "But first we gotta figure out how to even get to the Nasod King."

"Is there even another exit in this room?" Aisha asked, raising the staff and following Elsword into an area sectioned off by observation windows.

"It doesn't look like it," Rena responded as she looked at the blast door controls. "Going back out there might be our only option. We might have to wait until things calm down outside."

"That's not going to be for a while," Raven said, "These are machines we're talking about. They'll stand guard for as long as their batteries let them."

"Do they even run on batteries?" Chung wondered.

Raven shook his head, "I don't know-"

"Guys! Look what I found!" Elsword shouted excitedly from inside the observation chamber.

The other three hurried over, stumbling over Nasod tech along the way to find Aisha covering her ears and Elsword pressing his face over a green pod.

"Can you not yell in my ear, you idiot!" Aisha yelled back.

"It's not my fault! You're the one standing too damned close to me!"

"Why, you…!"

The two were at each other's throats for the third time today causing Rena to pull them apart.

Chung approached the pod Elsword found. It was big. Big enough to hold a human. It was hard to make out with the Aisha's magic light reflecting off the green tinted glass but Chung could tell there was someone, or something, inside of it.

"Uh… there's something in there, everyone," Chung said, backing away and clutching the cannon he carried around with him.

Suddenly the pod lit up and all attention fell on Elsword who was busy pushing buttons at a nearby console. "Yeah, I know!" he said excitedly, "That's why I called you all over here."

"Elsword!" Aisha yelled, "What are you doing?! You don't know what's in there!"

"Relax. There's five of us and only one of it. We can beat it up if it's a bad guy," he reassured her. The pod opened, letting out a cloud of smoke that quickly blotted out Aisha's light source. Green lights flooded from inside the pod as the door swung wide. Through the thick mist a figure stood, casting a definitive shadow as light shined behind it.

From where Chung stood, he could see the shadow had thick cables attached to it. It had three heads, two arms, and two legs but it clearly wasn't a human.

"A Nasod!" Chung declared as he took a siege stance and pointed the cannon at the enemy. He waited as the cloud covered the whole room. There was no sound of attack and he couldn't tell if it was even safe to fire without harming the others.

The clouds settled and the green light faded. Aisha's illumination spell shined through the fading mist and the Nasod in question stood unmoved before them. Chung saw that the three heads were in fact only one with two separate Nasods-a black and white drone-on either side of her. At least he thought it was a her. This was the first time he recognized a distinct gender in a Nasod.

She stood before them in a white long-sleeve and black pants that hugged her lithe form. She had a black mantle, white gloves, and white boots that reached all the way up to her mid thigh. Long, unkempt white hair flowed down to her hips and a brilliant blue core peeked out behind messy bangs. Golden eyes scanned the people before her and those eyes immediately turned to the boy who had set her free.

"You," she said, pointing a finger at him. The drones at either side of her set themselves between her and Elsword, as if waiting for him to make the first move. "What is the meaning of this? Why has a human awakened me?" Her voice was flat. Not robotic as it sounded very much like a human's but the anger she clearly held wouldn't have been apparent if one listened to her voice alone.

Elsword hesitated and Aisha, who was using him as a human shield nudged him forward.

"Uh…" was all Elsword could mutter.

"Answer immediately," she demanded in what Chung could decipher as annoyance.

"I was, uh… curious? About what was inside? I'm Elsword by the way. What's your name?"

The Nasod stared at him as if he was lying. Everyone else knew that, as idiotic as it sounded, it was the absolute truth.

"Do you realize what you've done, human?" She asked, still pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"I… woke you up." Elsword stated.

"My core was programmed to provide energy to the Nasod race. Any energy spent awake is energy that could have powered the production of thousands of Nasod citizens. Your ignorance has delayed-nay-doomed the lives of millions of future Nasods."

"Alright, alright… so go back to bed already, sheesh," Elsword said, grabbing her by the shoulders and moving her back to the pod. This physical contact caused the drones to fly in between them, pushing him rather forcefully away while the Nasod gave him a rather hard slap across the face, one that echoed like a whip in the observation room. It was enough to cause even Raven to wince from the sight.

"Don't you dare touch me, human!"

The slap didn't go unanswered as Aisha placed herself defensively in front of Elsword. "Hurt him again and I'll kill you."

"Do you wish to die, commoner?" the Nasod asked, stepping back while the drones traced a blue circle in front of the female Nasod.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Raven said from behind her. "Try anything stupid and you'll be without a head before you can even blink.

"Wait!" Rena shouted, putting herself between the Nasod and Aisha. "Hold on a minute. Little Nasod girl," she began turning to the machine and bending down to speak to her, "You said you were powering the Nasod race, right? So you're the main power source?"

"Yes, elf. I am the sole provider for my dead race. Without me, Nasods would be doomed to extinction."

"Well that just makes our job easy," Raven said. The tip of his saber was pressed to the back of the Nasod's neck-yet not an ounce of fear was present on the her face. "If we kill you then we don't have to even reach King Nasod.

"Why are you trying to kill my King?" Eve asked, aware that any sudden movements would be fatal on her part.

"We're not, remember?" Elsword said over Aisha's shoulder. "We just want to talk to him. Get him to stop killing everyone on this island."

It was then that the Nasod's facial expression changed. Confusion was written all over her face. "Killing? What do you mean?"

"That king of yours is building an army to push out the Ponggos that your kind share this floating island with!" Chung said from the safety of the other end of the room. "If we don't stop him, he could potentially build an army that would take over the whole world."

"That… can't be true…" The female Nasod dropped her guard. "King Nasod… using my energy to build an army? That's not what I planned."

"Your King has other plans it seems," Aisha said through gritted teeth. Not a moment has passed since the Nasod hurt Elsword that she let her guard down. "He has a lot to answer for."

"King Nasod answers to me," the female Nasod said, authority returning to her voice. "I'm the one that created him. Therefore if what you're saying is true then he is my responsibility." She turned to her drones. "Moby, Remy, disengage primary connections."

The drones flew about the room, pressing buttons and pushing levers that cut power from the pod. The rest of the room lit up and the cables connected to the Nasod fell off her back with a heavy clang as it hit the metal floor.

She stepped away from the others, past Chung as she exited the observation room. "Where are you going?" Chung asked, still pointing the cannon at her.

She made her way to the blast door, extending her hand to it as a holo-projection of a keyboard appeared before her. The Nasod turned back to them, "To the core. To speak to King Nasod." Her fingers danced over the hologram, activating the lock mechanism. A series of mechanical locks were turned and the pressurized door slowly hissed open.

"Wait!" Raven called. "There are enemies waiting out there, you'll-"

The group stood in shock as the moment she stepped out into the core chamber, the W9s and sniper units immediately knelt before her.

"They're… not attacking," Aisha whispered.

The Nasod stopped and turned to them. "They know who I am," she said, "Any damage I sustain could doom our race. If you wish to leave this place I suggest you follow closely behind."

Elsword was the first to move, taking the invitation at face value. "Well? You heard her. We just gotta follow her to the core."

Chung didn't move. "I don't trust her. What would stop her from ordering the machines to kill us once we step out of this room?"

"If we don't we'll be stuck in there forever, right? Besides. She's on our side. She said she'd talk to the king, after all." Elsword said, giving them that confident grin that would surely be the death of them sometime in the future.

Reluctantly, the group exited the room and made their way out into the core chamber. The chamber itself was huge. If the floating Island of Altera was big enough to fit a small kingdom in it's entirety, the chamber-which was dug into the floating foundation, would be big enough to fit a castle. This hollowed-out, metal-walled room consisted of multiple floor levels that circled around a giant metal pillar at the center. The only way in was through special elevators that would carry the passengers from one of the levels through one of the triangular entrances that dotted the sides of this central structure. Previous attempts to access these moving platforms only resulted in alerting the security grid which consequentially cornered Chung and the others into their situation.

Although he didn't want to admit it then, Chung believed this would be the end of them-that they were to be stuck in that locked room until they starved to death. Fortune was a complicated mistress, however, for this Nasod that they had freed proved to be far more useful than anything he could have wished for. Stepping out, the group realized just how much they actually needed this particular Nasod as literally hundreds of W9s, enough to cover the entire floor in a sea of glinting blades, had been waiting just outside the blast door, unmoved by the intruders' presence. The group cautiously tailed the female Nasod, taking extra care not to fall too far behind.

Chung clutched at his destroyer like Aisha clutched at Elsword's arm as he lead the the others behind the female Nasod. If what she's saying is true, Chung thought as he watched the W9s move aside when the female approached them, then she may be the key in convincing the king to our side.

"Hey," Elsword said as the Nasods cleared a path before the female, "I never caught your name. This here is Aisha. The short kid is Chung, the guy with the Nasod arm is Raven, and the elf is Rena."

The Nasod was silent for a long while as she made her way towards the giant cylinder at the center of the room that housed the Nasod core. She looked over her shoulder at Raven, golden eyes focusing on the arm wrapped in cloth. "Eve."

"Nice to meet you, Eve," Elsword said.

She didn't respond and continued to eye the man's robotic arm with keen interest up until they boarded one of the moving platforms. Eve took her eyes off him as a keyboard hologram appeared in front of her. After punching in a few keys, the lift began to move. Only then did she speak again. "Raven."

"Yes?" the man answered.

"How did you acquire our technology?"

Raven looked at the arm attached to him. It was wrapped tightly in cloth in such a way that the bladed fingers could not move. An orange core could be seen glowing through the fabric where the back of his palm would be and every now and then, the arm involuntarily twitched as if trying to fight its way out of the wrappings.

"It's not like I cut my own arm off and bolted this thing on me. This was all your kind's fault," he said, clutching at the forearm with his human hand.

"Explain," she said, turning her back to him as she looked over the Nasods at the platform they had just stepped off of. They were still kneeling, and as their lift moved further towards the giant pillar, she could see thousands of other combat-ready Nasods kneeling in the platforms above and below.

Raven's grip around the mechanical arm tightened as he was forced to remember all the events that brought him to where he was today. "That's none of your concern," he said through gritted teeth.

"It is," Eve responded, looking back over her shoulder at him, "I'd like to assess the current state of my kingdom before I speak with the king. With your irrelevant human emotions aside, I want a detailed account on how a primitive ape can fuse with high-tech Nasod equipment."

A fire was lit in Raven's eyes and the hand clutching the machine arm moved to the saber at his hip. "Damned pile of scrap, what did you call me?"

A soft hand rested on his and he looked to Rena who stood beside him, shaking her head. "Can we please be civilized and keep the name-calling to a minimum? Eve, Raven was captured by your kind and they attached this thing to him. It had some kind of mind-control power that made him do unspeakable things to others."

"It was some sick experiment!" Raven said, struggling to contain his anger. "They wanted to create an army like me. Soldiers who could infiltrate cities and take it down from the inside. I've killed so many people against my will because of it. So much blood was spilled by my hands and I couldn't even take my own life to stop it because of this damned arm. That's why I'm here. I want to destroy your king and avenge those who lost their lives to this arm."

"I see," Eve said. The flat response almost pushed Raven past his limit and it took Elsword and Chung to hold him back as even the mechanical arm began to tremble uncontrollably.

"You. The one named Chung. Why are you here?" Eve asked, ignoring the embodiment of hate that tried to fight its way to her throat.

Chung struggled to hold the man back, gripping his mechanical arm. But even his strength wasn't enough to keep the arm from nearly wrenching itself free.

"I told you already," he said amidst his struggles to keep Raven down. "The Ponggos are being attacked by your kind. They asked me to help and I agreed."

"I know that. But why are you helping the Ponggos? They are not of your race. One shouldn't delve into politics that doesn't concern their kind."

"Like I could just watch your kind slaughter them! They're peaceful miners looking for El shards to trade. They've done nothing wrong to your kind."

"So that's why King Nasod has decided to attack them…" Eve said in thought.

"And I'm here because I want to help!" Elsword chimed in but getting ignored by the Nasod in turn.

"Rena. What business does an Elf have with these humans?" Eve asked.

"Oh… well, I've found myself quite attached to these two," she said motioning to Elsword and Aisha. "I've met them a little more than a year ago when a thief stole the treasure of our El tree. These two helped me retrieve it and we've kept in touch ever since. It seemed like our paths crossed every time there was a disaster around Ruben or Elder. I'd often race to the scene at the first sign of trouble but these two always seemed to be the first to respond. I'm actually beginning to think they're cause of all my troubles." The comment garnered a nervous laugh from Elsword and Aisha.

"So your presence here has no relevance?" Eve asked. Now Rena was visibly ticked off but her resolve was much stronger than the rest and she simply responded with a shake of her head and a smile.

They passed the triangular gate into the inner sanctum of the core chamber. Within the thick metal walls was yet another large chamber. Naturally it wasn't as big as the room beyond the thick walls but it was still wide enough to fit Elder's town square in. Vertically, the space was much larger as the inner pillar stretched upwards a few hundred meters back to the island's surface level. The lift brought them to the ground floor of this massive room where, at the center of it all, the King of Nasods waited for them.

Unlike the other Nasods, this machine was massive. Standing before them-or rather, floating since the machine consisted of a torso, a head and two disembodied arms-the king was clad in black metal plates that protected his frame. Special orange muscle weave was visible in his joints and a large red core was visible on his chest. He had no face but a black protective mask with an orange visor where his eyes should be. The chamber that housed him, as big as it was, stretched only as far as he could reach with one disembodied hand.

Their entry did not go unnoticed as the King was already facing them when the group entered with Eve in the lead.

"My queen," the king's voice was low and echoed across the chamber like a low growl, "Your return is ahead of schedule. Preparations for the fourth and fifth phase of our race's revival are still ongoing."

"Did he just call her a queen?" Aisha whispered to Chung in disbelief. "To think we'd see both a king and a queen of Nasods!"

"How do you think they, you know, do it?" Elsword whispered to Aisha getting a heavy punch in the arm from the mage.

"How would I know that?!"

"On the contrary," Eve shouted up towards the king who looked down on her. "It appears I've awoken just in time. By a human of all things, as well," Eve said, standing with her arms crossed and looking up at the king. One could say the size difference was comparable to that of a mouse staring down an elephant.

"I was aware of the intruders and have taken defensive measures. Perplexing though, as they have been escorted to the sanctum of my chambers. Why have you brought them here, my queen?" The king leaned down more to their level, the sound of metal grinding on metal as his body moved. "Their presence here is a threat to our objective. If they destroy my core, all our progress would be lost."

"Your assumptions are wrong, king," Eve said, "They demand an audience with you. And so do I."

"Your authority aside, what could these humans hope to gain by demanding my audience?"

"We want you to stop!" Chung called out, getting everyone's attention. With eyes on him he felt this was the best opportunity as long as Eve was there to protect them. "The Ponggos of this floating island have done nothing to hurt your kind yet you openly slaughter them."

"Our goal is to collect El shards," the king said in his deep mechanical voice, "Nasod life depends on El energy to survive. The Ponggos' mining operations have interfered and thus greatly inhibited our ability to produce enough energy to remain on schedule."

"Couldn't you have just traded with them?"

"Our resources on this island are limited. Engaging in trade would only limit our expansion more. It is significantly more efficient to exterminate than to come to a compromise with a race that does not fight back."

That was their reason? Chung thought as anger welled at the bottom of his gut. Innocents had been killed because it was 'more efficient'? "That's not fair!" he said, "The Ponggos would have been happy to trade even if it took a bit more time. You could have lived on peacefully like that!"

"Fairness and peace are irrelevant. Your kind… should know this most of all when it comes to these matters."

"My kind? You mean humans? If anything we have more compassion and fairness in one strand of hair than you have in your whole body! You-"

"Are you finished yet?" Eve interjected, a tone of impatience in her voice.

"Ignis and Leviathan!" Chung continued at the king, "They told me to save you. You're doing this against your people's will as well!"

"Save you?" Eve asked, "Who're the ones you speak of?"

"Rogue Nasods. His own experimental weapons told me to save the him. I thought Nasods were mindless machines. But they've shown me that they can think for themselves. They don't want to fight. None of them do. And you know it. You're forcing them with the same mind-controlling technology you've used on Raven."

"Silence," the king boomed, "You speak of things you do not understand."

"I understand it enough to know your citizens don't want to be a part of this."

"Though it may be true that some Nasods express discontent in our ways, we all know that the ultimate goal is worth the sacrifice. This was all planned by her, after all," he said, pointing a giant finger at Eve.

All focus was on Eve now and the group expected her to deny it. Instead she simply flicked her messy hair over her shoulder and said nothing.

"Wait, really?" Elsword shouted in disbelief. "You're the one that planned all of this?"

The little Nasod sighed, raising a hand to silence him. "It's true," Eve said as she moved to the king and turned back to the others. "I alone contain the means of reviving the Nasod race. I programmed the king's central core and used my own El energy to power him. Yes, it was me who has given him the objective of harnessing the power of El. I've tasked him to slowly rebuild our nation from the ground up. It must have been difficult to progress as far as he has and he has done his best in the several hundred years I've slumbered. For that I am grateful."

"Your praise honors me, my queen," the king boomed.

"However, King Nasod, my vision of a thriving nation did not include the production of readily available weapons of war. I've seen your defensive measures. Those abominations you call Nasods are out there ready to kill these intruders at a moment's notice. The one called Raven: what have you done to him? My vision did not include hybrid Nasod splinter groups built for the sole purpose of infiltration and assassination. Ignis and Leviathan: these Nasod rogues asked these humans to 'save' you. How desperate and how pitiful they must have been to beg for help from the enemy.

"I've constructed you with the purpose of collecting El shards and reviving my race-our race. Your directive did not include the subjugation of neighboring lifeforms or our own kind for that matter. It did not include experimentation of human mind-control nor did it have anything to do with the development of an advanced military.

"You've deviated far from your original coding, King Nasod. By my rationale, you have gone rogue and must be deactivated." Eve extended a hand as a screen was projected in front of her. Thousands of lines of code flew through the projection. For any human it would be impossible to see what the little Nasod was doing as her hands worked quickly adding, moving, and deleting specific lines of code to what everyone assumed was the king's programming.

The king's fists clenched tightly as the whole chamber that housed him rumbled and as Eve worked, it appeared that she had not completely grown aware of the environment as the lights shifted from white to red around them.

"Wait, deactivating him? What does that mean?" Chung called out to Eve who seemed to ignore him as steam billowed out of the several vents around the king's body. "Wait! That wasn't what we planned for! We were supposed to convince him to stop the Nasod attacks. What's going to happen if you deactivate him?" Chung stomped up behind the queen and grabbed her by the shoulder.

This got her attention and she quickly jerked away from him like he was some kind of disgusting beast. "When I deactivate him, all production and processes under his core network will cease. Now don't touch me, human. I have work to do."

Chung didn't understand and it was clear in the expression he made which only made the little Nasod frustrated.

Eve took a moment amidst her work to draw a comparison the boy might understand. "By removing the brain, all things connected to the brain will cease to function and die. I will remove the brain to this body and simply start over."

Chung stood there as he tried to process what she said. "So you're killing him?" Chung yelled in disbelief.

"What?!" The rest of the group called in unison. The lack of denial on Eve's part was all the proof they needed.

"Chung! Look out!" Raven said, pointing upward.

The boy looked up. A massive clenched fist was crashing down on Chung and the Nasod. Thinking quick on his feet, he grabbed the Nasod by the waist and flung her towards the group before she had a chance to protest. Gripping his cannon, he pulled the trigger, letting the sheer recoil of the powerful gun propel him away narrowly avoiding the crushing blow.

His ears were ringing as the entire room echoed loudly from the impact. Looking back at the others, Elsword was helping Eve get back on her feet while the other two girls covered their ears from the deafening crash. Raven looked to be shouting at the prince. He couldn't make out what he was saying but from his hand motions the boy knew he was telling him to get out of there. The man pointed upward and, looking up, he saw another fist mere moments away from coming down on him.

Chung raised his hands defensively. He was still on the ground. There was no way he could avoid it. The ground shook around him but strangely he felt no pain. Is that how death is like? He wondered. Opening his eyes he found himself staring up at the palm of the king's hand. Raven stood over him, blade clasped tightly in his human arm and mechanical arm unwrapped and burning a furious red glow.

Raven spoke but Chung couldn't hear. He pulled him up with his mechanical arm but Chung couldn't find the strength to maintain his balance. The boy was thrown out from under the palm and it became apparent that he had made a clean cut through the king's middle, ring, and little finger to prevent the boy from being crushed. It was after he was thrown out that Chung noticed something about the man: A black machine with a red core clung to his back like a large parasite. It had four spiked fingers which it had freely driven into his limbs, enhancing his strength and movement. This was likely the reason why he was able to reach the boy so quickly and cut so effortlessly. The core released itself from him, painfully separating from his limbs and hanging at his side as if waiting for his next command.

"I said move!" Raven yelled. He swung his blade again, cutting the rest of the fingers off before making his way around the outer edge of the chamber and away from the others. Having successfully grabbed the king's attention, Raven ducked and dodged the swings with unbelievable agility.

Chung hurried over to the others. Miraculously he was unscathed from the whole ordeal and his hearing was slowly returning to him.

"We have to shut him down!" Eve said through gritted teeth. She obviously was not happy with what the young prince had done. "Buy me time and I'll have him deactivated as soon as I can-"

"No!" Chung protested, "We have to try to convince him to stop attacking!"

"Do you think that's even possible right now?" The little Nasod said, "Look at him! In a few moments that human will be killed."

Looking back, Chung could see Raven just as the fingerless palm swatted at him. The core attempted to block the blow but he was still sent flying across the room.

"That's because you tried to kill him! This is your fault he's acting like this!" Chung exclaimed.

"My fault?" Eve said, an intense glare falling on the boy, "I'm removing a rogue machine. I'm simply following basic Nasod protocol. He is a danger to my race and his swift deactivation is what you humans would call mercy."

"But what about the rest of the Nasods? You said removing him will kill the rest of the network! All your citizens will die!"

"It's a necessary sacrifice," Eve said, her expression unchanged.

"If anything you're the danger to this race! There are thousands of lives just outside this room and you're going to just kill all of them?"

Eve stood face to face with him. Even the little Nasod had to look down at him from her height. "If. I. Must."

"Guys? Can we save the arguing for later?" Elsword said as he backed into Chung, catching the other's attention. Multiple doors opened on the king's back and dozens of miniature swarmer missiles were launched.

"Aisha, Chung," Rena called, nocking an arrow on her bow, "I hope you can hit flying targets." She took a deep breath, breathing el magic onto her arrow which began to glow a faint green. "Perfect storm!" She loosed the bow pointed at the ground a good distance in front of them. The arrow struck the metal ground, transferring its magical properties at the point of contact. A magical wisp formed that quickly generated an explosion of wind energy, twisting the air around the contact zone. The end result was a small but powerful tornado that threatened to fill the entire chamber with its destructive winds. Swarmer missiles caught in its vicinity were immediately sucked into the vacuum, destroying it outright or confusing the missile's guidance system. Rena quickly knocked another three arrows and with superior precision, detonated another three missiles that managed to avoid the funnel of wind.

Chung's accuracy was less than favorable. Still not accustomed to using the cannon, he fired wildly into the air in an attempt to shoot the missiles down but missing horribly with each shot. He needed something faster; much faster than the cannon he carried around. It was situations like this that he felt truly useless. If we get out of this alive, he thought to himself, I really need to find a better weapon.

All his shots missed but connected with the king's massive body. The blasts dented but ultimately did little to the thick metal frame. This did little more than remind the king that there were additional threats in the room and raised his arm to crush the grouped members.

"Chain… lightning!" Aisha cast her spell at the closest swarmer missile and the bolt of electricity arced from one nearby missile to the next, creating a string of explosions that moved up the room and into the missile pods. The resulting explosion on King Nasod's left missile pod damaged the plate wirelessly connecting his torso to his left arm, essentially destroying the entire left shoulder and causing the disembodied limb to fall lifelessly against the king's body.

"Nice job, Aisha!" Elsword said, taking the opportunity to charge up the length of the arm and up the damaged limb plate. Rena fired an arrow, catching a stray missile that would have struck Elsword as the boy rushed to the king's exposed neck. Elsword stood on the orange muscle weave alloy and the king craned his neck around to him. With one limb completely disabled he could only use his damaged right hand to try to swat the mosquito-sized threat away.

The sound of a blade cutting steel echoed through the chamber as Raven severed the hand at the wrist.

Elsword drove his blade deep into the muscle weave and, gripping the hilt, slashed outward. The head fell limp as the muscle was severed but the king was very much still alive. With his limbs disabled and defenses down, the king was helpless before the intruders.

"My queen," the king's voice boomed just as loud as ever despite his damaged body, "What I have done, I've done for the greater good of our race. Why must I be deactivated?"

Eve said nothing and finished inputting commands on her console. The floor in front of Aisha and Chung opened up and a large cylinder jutted out of the ground. It had thick cables running from the bottom of it and glowed a magnificent green that was clearly magical in nature.

"What is that?" Aisha asked, sensing the magical energies emanating from within the thick glass casing. It was easily three times her height and towered over the others like a brilliant star. "I can feel the power of El coursing through this. It's like a container of pure El energy.

"This is the king's network core. It's tainted with… some kind of green El energy. It's no wonder he has gone rogue." Eve said as she opened another console, "I've managed to disable the extensive security protocols that kept this from being accessed. With it exposed, I can deactivate him."

"No," the king said. "No!"

"Eve…" Chung began, "He can't even defend himself. Can't we at least try to convince him to stop his senseless killing?"

Eve ignored him and began working through the immense coding for the core. As she worked parts of the facility began shutting down.

"What… have I… done wrong…" the king said, his voice slowing as more and more of key code strings were disabled.

"Eve!" Chung yelled. "Stop it this instant!"

In a cry of desperation the king shouted, "No!"

Red flashed on the little Nasod's projections and she seemed visibly taken aback by the amount of security firewalls that were re-erected to stop her. She stamped her foot in frustration. "You are corrupted, King Nasod. Your deactivation is inevitable. Why do you resist?"

"How long is this going to take?" Raven said, clutching his side. "I'd like to get this over with and back to the surface as soon as possible. I think I broke a few ribs… Maybe… maybe more than a few ribs…"

"A few hours," Eve said, looking over the firewalls that popped up in her projections as she tried to deactivate each and every one of them.

"Can't we just talk to him, then?" Chung asked.

Elsword leapt down from the king's neck. "I don't see why not," he said as he ran over to the rest of them. "I mean we have the time."

Raven winced in pain as he limped his way towards the others. "You're… really adamant about convincing him, aren't you?" Raven was clearly against it, having suggested they simply destroy the core earlier, but there was respect in his tone when he spoke.

"It was Ignis and Leviathan's dying wish," Chung responded, "Besides, wouldn't it be better if we could get the Nasods and the Ponggos to work together? I'm sure that both sides would be happy if-"

Raven collapsed. Falling flat on his abdomen he let out a pained cough with blood oozing out of his mouth.

"Oh gods… Raven!" Rena immediately came to the man's side and rolled him on his back. His breathing was shallow and ragged. It didn't take long for the man to lose consciousness. "Hang on! Raven… if you can hear me, just hang on."

"Stand back," Eve said to the others. She raised a finger to the air and traced a circle above her. A blue halo of El energy formed and her drones, Moby and Remy, flew along the halo like a rail, opening a dimensional portal that flowed with data. The data rained on Eve, taking form of a long tube that was mounted on the Nasod's shoulder. The tube formed a grip, a targeting lens, and a shoulder guard that fit on the little Nasod's shoulder perfectly. It formed a forward grip, a blast guard, and finally a trigger at her fingertips.

Chung stepped forward, "Eve? What are you-"

"I said stand back!"

She pulled the trigger.

The rocket that left the barrel connected with the network core, shattering the glass before exploding in a brilliant white, blue, and green flash that blasted its contents all over the floor in front of the king. The lights in the entire facility cut out, sending the whole underground kingdom spiraling into a void that was as dark as it was silent. The mess of green matter was the only source of light in the chamber and it quickly faded, forcing the members to depend on Aisha's illumination spell once more.

"What just happened?" Elsword said, fanning the smoke away from his face. "Is everyone okay?"

"She just destroyed the king's core…" Aisha said. "I think that means all the Nasods are…"

"Dead…?" Chung mumbled, "Does that mean she's also…?" He squinted his eyes as he tried to focus on all the faces through the darkness and was shocked to find Eve's so close to his. He backed away as the illumination spell as the tip of Aisha's staff was drawn closer to the golden-eyed girl.

She stood there, with her arms crossed and drones hovering just behind her. With a snap of her fingers, both Moby and Remy flipped on miniature headlights, shining it directly at Chung who shielded himself from the brightness. "No. I'm still functional," she said turning and making her way back to the elevator.

"What did you do?!" Chung asked as the rest of the group followed the Nasod on to the unpowered elevator. Elsword assisted Rena in dragging Raven's broken body towards the lift.

"It's as the female human said: I destroyed King Nasod's core."

"Then… how are you still alive?" Aisha asked, "Weren't all Nasods connected to the network deactivated?"

"Both your assumptions are wrong, human," she said, reaching into the side of her head. The cone-like plates at the side of her head opened up and she withdrew a thin wire from it. She plugged it into the elevator's control console and it came to life. With the lift functioning once again, she pressed a few buttons and the lift began to move.

Eve turned to the others, "Firstly, I wasn't connected to the king's network. I was never a part of it to begin with which was why I was unaware of the progress he had made when you woke me. I programmed him a thousand years ago and he carried on creating with me functioning as a power source and nothing more. Secondly, I didn't deactivate him. I destroyed him. Rather than shutting off their cores through a single deactivation, destroying the core caused a chain reaction to all who are connected. You can see the results here…"

As the lift carried them back out into the main chamber, Moby and Remy focused their headlights over the bodies below them. Chung stared in horror as each of the thousands of Nasod soldiers lay dead with their chest blown open. What once was a thriving hive of glinting steel was now a museum of macabre statues each frozen in its final state of agony. The lift continued to climb and each level they passed was the same: soldiers and workers alike, clutching at their chests, their innard burnt from the inside.

Eve remained straight-faced as they passed and Chung could feel the resentment he held for this girl grow exponentially.

"Why… did you do that?"

"It was necessary," Eve stated bluntly.

"No. No it wasn't. What you did was murder your entire race. All for what?"

"For him," Eve said, pointing at Raven. Her two assistant drones shined their light on him. With head resting on Rena's lap, Chung could barely make out the shallow ins and outs of his breath. "Had I not done what I did, we would still be in the chamber at this very moment negotiating with an entity who understands efficiency over anything else. I would have deactivated him eventually so I chose to save some time as well as one life."

"But… we could have convinced him…"

The black drone shoved him back and Eve approached the prince. She leaned forward so they were looking eye to eye. He felt a pressure on his chest as she pressed a finger on the chestplate of his armor. "The way I see it, I had three choices before me:

"One: I take control of a corrupted core network for myself and continue the king's work. Doing so would mean melding myself with his network, putting myself at risk of being corrupted. This and destruction of the core would mean the destruction of mine, as well. This would have taken hours since I needed to pass his firewalls. During this time you and your humans would be hiding in the chamber away from the Nasods waiting to kill you outside.

"Two: I deactivate the core, killing all my citizens and replace it with mine. I'd have to restart the El shard collection process and repurpose the entire facility to better suit my goals. Given that resources on this island is already limited this option can take another millenia. For me shoulder the processes necessary, I'd have to delete several aspects of my coding, including my emotional code which would drastically affect my ability to judge you intruders as friend or foe.

"Three: I destroy the core, leave the island, and collect the El shards myself. I can save your companion's life and restart the revival process from scratch.

"I could achieve any of these three choices by altering my own code once and only once. This is the path I've chosen. You can assume which of the three it was."

Aisha raised her hand, "Um… does that mean you're leaving the facility?"

Eve straightened herself, turning to the mage with a nod. Sunlight hit the platform as an exit hatch rumbled open. "Correct. The machines on this island are a grim reminder of what I wanted to avoid. This isn't the kind of nation I was hoping I'd wake up to. It was all wrong. I had to destroy it."

"Those were lives you destroyed," Chung stated, venom in his tongue.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, "It was collateral. They served no purpose in my vision of the Nasod race."

"So where are you going next, then?" Elsword interjected, wanting to break up the tension between the two royals.

"Undetermined as of yet," Eve said, stepping out of the platform and onto barren dirt. "My primary goal is to collect El shards so locating a primary source is my priority."

"Okay, well, we're going to rush Raven to the Ponggo village. If you'd like, you can come with us and we can figure out where you can go from there," he then turned to Rena and helped her lift Raven up over his shoulder.

"S-Seris," Raven mumbled.

Rena and Elsword looked at each other in confusion before shrugging and hobbled as quickly as they could towards the Ponggo village.

Eve nodded. "I'd appreciate the assistance, then."

She tailed the elf and the human with Aisha following close behind and Chung taking the rear. The boy prince shouldered the cannon, shuffling his feet angrily as he was forced to be around the Nasod for a moment longer it would seem. She glanced back at him and for a long moment their eyes locked as both were trying to read the other.

This was going to be a long walk.


"And then what happened?" Pet asked, still holding her legs to her chest. She was turned to him now and she rocked back and forth in anticipation for the next part of his tale.

"Ah… well," Chung scratched his head, "Eve wanted to find El shards and our line of work often led us to sources of El shards so she… joined us."

"But I thought you hated her."

"I do! Er… did. Well… the situation's complicated really."

"What does 'complicated' mean?"

"Hard to explain," Chung replied. The amount of times he had to stop to define a word during his story was exhausting, to say the least.

"Hard to explain… so you don't hate her anymore?"

"It's complicated. She and I don't agree on much of anything."

"Like whether or not killing is wrong?"

"That's right. She doesn't care at all about anything else in the world other than herself."

"But you care about a lot of things."

"Yes, I do."

"Do you care about me?"

"Of course," Chung said with a smile, getting a shy giggle from the girl as she covered her face. "Aren't you getting sleepy, yet? The sun will be coming up in a few hours."

The mention of time caused the girl to yawn. "Yeah. A little. What about you?"

"I'll stay up a bit more. Mud's snoring isn't exactly the easiest to fall asleep to, you know?"

Pet laughed, "I know! I always give him a kick on the belly when he gets too loud. He doesn't mind I think."

"I'll be sure to do that then if he starts snoring really loud," Chung said. A lie of course. He couldn't do that to the poor guy. "So you go ahead and get some shut eye. I'll be up."

"Alright. Good night, Chung," Pet said with a yawn.

"Good night, Pet." Chung said as he turned his attention back to the dying fire. He threw in another log and watched as it slowly started to burn.

As he sat there watching the golden flames lick at the bark he let out a heavy sigh. All this talk about how he met his friends brought back that same feeling of guilt that he had been carrying with him since he started on his own. He remembered the way he treated Aisha and wanting to apologize to her as he was sneaking out. He remembered running into that damned machine. "I want you to consider the actions you take," she had said to him, "Maybe then you can understand 'my kind' as you so nicely phrased it."

Chung tossed a rock into the fire angrily and fell back onto his bedroll. He stared up at the sky and the Celestial string stared back. "Like hell I'd let a Nasod lecture me."