Long Ago

Alexandre and Goch observed the endless desert, far from their grasp. It was another quiet day and the Mipedian wasn't on duty.

"Since you appeared, I didn't came here for a while Alexandre," the Mipedian said as he observed the vast desert.

"So, you usually come here to observe the desert?"

"When possible. If there is none of the enemy close by, then I come out and observed the sand. There is so few oases but it's just… wonderful to gaze at," Goch was in his reverie.

"Is this where you were born?"

"Yes. Al Mipedim. I was born there but when I began to train to be a soldier, they attacked and… we ended up here with the other tribes. All I can do is looking at my home from here."

"Do you miss it?"

"Of course. The warm of the sands on my feet, the friends I have, lost to slavery, and my home at a faraway oasis. I still dream of feeling the sun on my scales, warming me up and feeling like nothing can stop me. I want to bath under the sun," he let out a long sigh as he looked away from the boy.

"It's okay. You really miss you home."

"We all miss our home. Even those stupid idiots of the other tribes miss their home," he crossed his arms, "It's a miracle we didn't kill each other's already."

Alexandre thought for a while. It wasn't his business what happened on this world called Perim but Goch was his friend. He couldn't and wouldn't look away. He gazed at the humanoid lizard and asked, "Have you tried to fight back with the other tribes?"

Goch puffed in indignation of such thought, "As if! We are enemies. We are just tolerating each other's because we have no choice."

Alexandre nodded at the reply. He tapped the shoulder of his friend, "Goch. You cannot stay here forever," he lightly smiled, "You're my friend and I won't let you feel down like that," and the boy returned in the cold inside of the Wind Quadrant, followed by his friend who wondered what was in the mind of the Human Of The Cothica.


Chapter 8: The Quest In Kaizeph Part 2

The four Chaotic Players observed the image sculpted on the tablet. Lost in words. Nothing came out of their mouth for a minute.

"Guys. That thing is really weird bro," Peyton pointed at the Chaotic Player in the tablet.

"You think this is real… Not put by the Overworlder?" Tom asked.

"Nope. It was all dusty and old like everything else here. So, it's true," he said.

"And that guy had a scar on his forehead," Sarah pointed at the face of the male human.

"He looks a little older than us," Kaz guessed.

"I'm not that surprise now that I think about it," Sarah began. She noticed their disbelief gaze and defended herself, "We travel back in time to Kiru Village remember? Maybe he did the same at Dranakis Threshold but went to the time the creatures lived in Kaizeph. That's entirely possible."

The three teenage boys sighed and nodded.

"That is way too much locky if it was another way," the brown-haired boy commented with relief.

"We can't use it anymore since Najarin destroyed it. We might need to search for him in Chaotic. He can tell us what happened," Tom suggested.

"If he hasn't been coded and is still alive," his best friend replied.

After looked at it a little more, they decided to put the tablet where they took it out.

"That is an interesting tablet you found there," someone said.

The four gasped and looked at the new comer. They were the intruders there. Like always.

"Najarin," Tom said.

It was Najarin who looked at them, arms crossed. He was a light shade of blue humanoid creature with light blue eyes and a long white beard. He wore a blue cloak with a pointed hat of the same color, like wizards.

"Please don't freeze us," Peyton quickly said as he showed his hands, "We aren't trying to get to our scanners!"

"What are you doing here?" the Overworlder Player asked.

"I heard a loud sound and I wondered who it was. I was expecting a Mipedian spy or an Underworlder, not you four," the old creature said as he lightly frowned.

"Hey! It's not our fault! We had to be here," Sarah replied.

"Why? Someone forces you?" the Overworlder asked.

"This mess forces us! Tom was attacked by a M'arrillian because they believe something crazy!" the Danian player continued her rant, "We have to know why!"

Najarin thought about it and nodded, "Fair enough. Mezzmar told me you were attack by Rath'tab Tom. I'm glad you escaped back to safety. However, you cannot come here without authorisation."

"Like we would get one," Sarah replied.

"True," the old High Muge agreed. He pointed his long finger at them, "I won't alert the others this time. Show me the tablet you found. I heard it was really interesting for you."

They pointed at the tablet and the creature brought it to himself with his power. He gazed at it and saw the Chaotic Player with the two creatures, "Two of them are the same than what the Mipedians found out but better crafted."

"Mipedians found another one?" Kaz asked.

"Yes. Our spies spotted it and we went into frenzy for this. We are still getting over the fact that a Chaotic Player was there long ago."

Tom took a step forward and asked, "Did you meet this Chaotic Player? You were surely there long ago and met him."

"Probably. However, I remember little of my time in Kaizeph or before. Anything that has something to do with the M'arrillians has been mostly forgotten, as they wished. Anything this Chaotic Player did or any interaction I have with him is forgotten," Najarin looked around, "With all those tablets however," he put the one he picked at its place and floated higher, "I might manage to claim those memories back."

"So, it was during the first M'arrillian war then," Sarah concluded.

"And now they want Tom," Peyton said.

"Probably-" Kaz stopped when he gazed at the High Muge.

"You and Peyton. We know your relationship with those rulers," the old creature said before lightly chuckling, "You thought we wouldn't be aware of it? We have eyes everywhere. I won't condemn you for this, as long as you don't contribute to any crime against our tribe."

You aren't aware about me… yet, she corrected herself in her mind.

"We won't!" the two said.

"Good. I should thank you for finding the library for us. It was one of the most important places to find. Thought breaking the door that way cost you," he pointed at himself.

"We barely pushed it," Tom defended himself.

"That's is happening everywhere. So, no one was surprised. I just noticed it wasn't where we are," the High Muge commented with amusement. He was enjoying those little incidents.

"We should go now," Kaz said, knowing that their search was halted for now.

"Before you leave, there is something I want you to see," Najarin searched something in his cloak.

"What is it?" Tom asked curiously.

The High Muge showed them a tablet and asked, "Do you understand this strange scripture?"

The four humans looked at it and they almost let out a gasp. They immediately recognised the writing. It was made in English.

It was written: This is practice. Writing on this tablet is hard.

The message had no meaning, except that the Chaotic Player who went to Kaizeph left this message in English. Something obviously forbidden in the rules. If it was still there, it awoke more questions. Just like scanners, anything written or in possessions of Chaotic Players was disposed by the Codemasters. This tablet wasn't.

"Not really," Kaz said, not wanting to take any risk with the Codemasters. They were on thin ice. The message was meaningless and saying nothing might put more values to them than expected.

Thankfully for them, Najarin didn't press the issue and let it go. He did notice clearly that the Chaotic Players knew what it was and surely what it meant.

"Let's go then-"

"Wait. Najarin. There is something I am wondering. Maybe you can tell us if it's possible," the black-haired boy had to be sure. Seeing the scripture on the tablet made him uneasy.

"You can ask."

"Do you think the Chaotic Player could have reached Kaizeph after using the Dranakis Threshold? I'm not sure anymore," we were the first humans to use it… Except the Codemaster, Tom thought back, if he used it then the tablets shouldn't be there. The Codemasters would somehow know about those.

"I don't think so. The two were not at the same location and the Chaotic Player had no chance to escape the M'arrillians. I'm certain the Flux Bubble couldn't bring them here or there would be only the M'arrillians tribe ruling Perim long ago," the wise High Muge suggested.

That made the humans quiet once again. Now, they didn't know how it was possible. Many questions came out. No answers could come. The only thing they knew, was that the answers were in Kaizeph.

"Thank you Najarin," the Overworld player said as he grabbed his scanner, "But we will be back. We need to figure this out. Sorry."

"We are involved in this for real," Kaz added.

"Just don't get caught by anyone again," Najarin said as they ported out. He grabbed his beard and gazed at the library of the abandoned city, "We are going to need you to figure some of the mysterious tablets it seems. Written in the language of Chaotic Players. How much secret does it have in this tablet?" he gazed at it, "Somehow. I'm not sure it had anything big or they would be more than surprised. I'll have to contact Maxxor soon."

Knowing the Chaotic Players would be back, they would need to carefully watch them. As some discoveries will be kept secret from any creatures. They aren't quiet when they talked. Najarin guessed it had something to do with the laws of Chaotic, where they came from. It ordered them to be silence about this, just like the scanners.


The group were now back at in the Court Room, frustrated that their expedition was cut short.

"I was so certain we would find much more," Kaz sighed.

"Yeah. But we were spotted and no chance to try again," Sarah sighed. She lightly smiled, "At least we aren't in trouble."

"This time," Tom added.

"I was so certain we would have a cool and awesome adventure and find out why the M'arrillians are after us. And we didn't get a cool scan in the end," Peyton dropped his head on the table.

"Relax. It's not that bad," the Overworlder player said with a small smile, "We did find out that there was a Chaotic Player at Kaizeph during the first M'arrillian war."

"R-really bro?" Peyton asked uncertain, "Because that's the empty-half of a glass of water."

His red-haired friend understood and snapped his finger, "Maybe because of how that Chaotic Player came to Kaizeph. That's certainly not normal. Najarin said that he couldn't use Dranakis Threshold, so he used something no creatures know. Maybe even the M'arrillians. It might be really weird or beyond what they could imagine. They believe he came from the Cothica. So, us too."

"Not really helping. The big question is how? That's the really big question," Sarah also dropped her head on the table.

Tom thought about it and suggested, "Maybe he wrote on one of the tablets. He did make one. Surely they are more."

"Why did he leave that as a message?" Kaz asked as he looked at his friend.

"Practice. We never do that in our world, so he practices to make some himself."

Peyton asked the question, "Then why this mysterious message if for practice? That's a certain weird. I don't get it."

"Maybe he had no idea what to put? Maybe?" Sarah was really uncertain of her guess.

"Or he was certain that no one would read it," Tom tried.

"That's not important," Sarah cut this useless question, "But we will need to find more of those tablets. The Overworlders are surely going to be watchful now."

"We should wait for a while before returning to Kaizeph. Besides, I'll have a few busy days with my matches," Kaz told them as he checked his schedule on his scanners.

"Next week," Peyton said. He thought and said, "It will be the Windy quadrant. That Chaotic Player was with the Mipedians too. You saw the image and what Najarin said."

"Good idea Peyton. Let's prepare for next week, because it's going to be cold there," the Overworlder player said.

The group agreed and put everything else behind them for now. There was no reason to put more questions when they would have no answers.


Bonus

The Overworlders were preparing to open the door to the next house. Viqtarr stood in front of it while the researches were preparing for the next discovery.

The soldier was bored out. He hated to be chosen for security. Nothing was going on here and he couldn't even train.

"Careful Viqtarr."

"I know! I will just push this door!" he snapped at one researcher. He gently pushed the door.

The sound of the metal resonated in the quadrant a loud boom resonated when the door felt on the ground.

"Dammit Viqtarr!" they yelled at him.

"Euh… Oups," he nervously grinned and raised his shoulders.


AC: This is the end of this chapter. You get a little more lore and a few information's in one image and the guesses of the players. I didn't put Najarin communicating with Maxxor because it's mostly explaining what happened and his intention.

Next Chapter: Mission At Kiru City Part 1.

Mipedians went to negotiate with the Overworlders for a battlegear. Tom and Peyton end up in this upcoming mess. This will focus on the creatures and less the players.

Expect negotiations, plan B and dangers.