AC: I also want to thank my Beta-reader FollowerOfAnhamirak for his time on this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.


Morning came in Summer Vale. The sun shone upon the city with its clear sky. The town was awfully quiet though. There were no cars rolling around. There were no people walking around with their daily lives. The citizens were all walking at the same pace.

The M'arrillians watched the humans marching in order. Many had a smile on their faces.

"Looks like we are progressing quickly in capturing the Cothica. I thought they would put up more resistance," one of the soldiers commented.

Aval'par was near them, his leg still not completely back to normal, "Don't underestimate them. None of them were soldiers."

Rath'tab nodded, "The civilians held little resistance. Even their militia had little battlegear. I just felt one of the little metal things go through me. It just hurt a little. I was certain that their battlegear would be more… special. It's just nothing with energy now."

Bahrakatan stood aside as he watched the damage his tribe already caused to the Cothica. There were many houses that had holes in the walls or doors. Many of the transportation vehicles were broken in pieces. Not only that, but they enslaved the habitants of that world.

The others already planned how to use the humans as soldiers to conquer the Cothica and then Perim.

He didn't like this at all; he was hoping for less destruction. Still, he had one thing to say to them, "You should watch yourself. We don't know what they have in stores. We don't know how many humans exist in this world and what they might be hiding. The technology of their scanners should be feared."

"You think so?" Rath'tab chuckled. He pointed at a human, "Human. How many humans are there in this world?"

"More than eight billion master," the human replied.

The M'arrillians froze at those words as the realization hit.

"E-e-e-e-eight… B-Billions!" they yelled together.

"How can we control the minds of that many humans?" Rath'tab panicked as that number wasn't expected at all.


Chapter 86: M'arrillians Move

Milla'iin watched the humans as they brought a map of the world. He gazed at it. It was a large one and he tried to pinpoint their location. He just knew they were in a kingdom called the United States. He observed it more closely and saw that two more were at their range. One at the north named Canada and one at the south called Mexico. He wondered what those kingdoms contained. Still, the very fact that it was the same species, as they called themselves, was a little fearsome. They just had one city from the United State and there were many towns and subsections of the kingdom. He didn't understand how it was working at all and he thought his brain would meet if he tried to understand the intricacy of this place, "The Cothica is extremely confusing," he saw the large oceans separating the land. It wasn't a big one like Perim. He looked up and noticed that his soldiers were in a state of panic for unknown reason, (What is going on?)

(Eight billion humans! We have to control more than eight billion human minds!) they replied.

"What?" Milla'iin yelled. His eye seemed to shrink upon learning that. The other soldiers were also nervous about these revelations.

"We don't have enough power to get all of them. How can we possibly take control of all of them?" one soldier commented.

"They are compensating their power with numbers. If Aa'une was still here, it wouldn't be difficult to control the minds of humanity," another one said.

Milla'iin put his tendrils on his head and thought. He knew that their power wasn't as great as before. Even with Aa'une, they would only be able to get ten million. He knew that they couldn't just take control of each mind, town by town. It wouldn't work. At least, they knew of that potential downfall before they reached that point, (I will formulate a plan. This is a setback we can easily work around. We are in the Cothica. There is surely something we can use to strengthen our power over their minds. It wouldn't be if it wasn't the case. Also, we will need to be selective.)

He then flew towards Bahrakatan and searched for a plan.

Meanwhile, Bahrakatan sat on the ground upon hearing that revelation, "This is the Cothica. Life is flourishing in this world. In Perim, even the Overworlders are barely a few millions. This is the power of the Cothica. This is the power of their Lord," he put his hand and pincer on his head, "We are clearly underestimating them. They don't have power over the elements, but they have something else. I can see it clearly," he realized then that they were about to ruin everything. He didn't know what would happen in the long term, but his gut told him it wouldn't be pretty. It wouldn't be a blessing spreading on Perim, wasted upon them, "No. This is just a terrible scenario in my head," he grumbled to himself. He raised his head and saw Milla'iin coming towards him.

The yellow M'arrillian nodded at him, "I see you heard the news. There are that many humans in this world."

"Yes. The Cothica does allow life to flourish to such an extent. Their Lord must be one to fear."

"Yes. Their Lord," Milla'iin chuckled as he already had an idea of how to deal with their problem, "We will need to find a way to bring him and capture him. If we have their Lord who created the Cothica, the humans will bow to us."

The M'arrillian didn't realize what blasphemy he had just spoken as the sky suddenly darkened on the city.

"He probably heard us Milla'iin," Bahrakatan warned him.

"Coincidence," the other one washed this warning away. Still, his voice had little confidence in his own replies. The sky was clear just a while ago.

The other M'arrillians felt the rain. Their morale seemed to increase as they were creatures of the sea.

"Still, we shouldn't speak lightly of him. You want to capture him and control his mind, right?"

"Yes Bahrakatan. I'm sure you can find a way to get to him. We need to collect as much information as possible. In the meantime, I will find out more about the leaders of this world. We need to get them under our tendrils and then the humans will follow suit. None of them will have the guts to fight against us then," Milla'iin replied.

"Be careful about this kingdom. The soldiers of the United States obey this Constitution and not their leader."

"A piece of paper above their king?" the other one chuckled at how stupid the idea was.

The M'arrillians found that bit of information indicative of how foolish humans were, until the Coralsmith pointed one thing, "That means that even if we take their leader, the military won't bow to us… neither will it's citizens."

Milla'iin chuckled, "We just have to be subtle about it. If we want to overtake the Cothica, we need to control the top and the bottom will follow. We just need to control the right people."

Rath'tab asked, "Who are the right people?"

The Chieftain had no answer as he turned his gaze towards him. He wanted to slap his face with his tendril for revealing that problem. He closed his eye, "First things first, we need to get those two humans who escaped us. We need to get Tom and Kaz under our control. That way, the Cothica won't fight back as hard. Then, we search for the Lord. He is the one who rules above them all, including their leaders. He is on that piece of paper."

The soldiers agreed. Those humans were special if they managed to get close to the leader of a tribe. It was their chance to claim victory on Perim later on.

"While we search for them, we need to collect as much intelligence as possible on this world. I'll split everyone to find the humans we need and the way to get the humans under our control."

As the creatures prepared for the hunt, Bahrakatan remained. He was still doubtful about everything but didn't dare voice his opinion. Everything just felt wrong. The amount of disrespect was high for the Cothica and the Lord was high. He feared what this Lord might do if he knew what they were planning to do in his kingdom. Unless, he already knew. He closed his eyes and wondered what the best course of action would be if the leader of the humans showed up.

He crossed his arms pensively as he prepared to collect information. He wasn't chosen for the hunt and was glad about it. He wanted to know more about the Cothica and the humans and their Lord. It wouldn't be possible with those whose minds were being controlled right now.

Bahrakatan walked away, "We need to know as much as possible about this world. There is no point in hesitating or feeling guilty about everything," he gazed down and sighed. He grabbed his pincer, "We cannot go back anyway. I cannot go back," he whispered those words and walked towards the most important building he could find.


Unknown to the M'arrillians, they were kept under strict watch by the militaries.

Michel frowned as he noticed what was going on. His computer showed many dots on the move, "The M'arrillians are on the move."

"We have no idea what they are planning, Michel. They aren't leaving town yet," Annette commented as she crossed her arms. She watched her computer as she looked over the previous report.

"I don't believe they are planning to take action right now. They have little information of the Earth and they will surely try to collect more before trying anything big," Imthor commented.

"Still, we have little time. They can control the mind of every human they encounter if they wish," the black man commented.

Annette smiled, "Don't worry. We already have a few scenarios prepared for this kind of situation."

"None of them involve mind control. The M'arrillians haven't been around long enough to plan for everything."

"Crellan seems to have a hunch at something that might be useful. He is analysing the battlegear made to protect the mind. He wants to see the details for something," Imthor added.

Michel scratched his chin, "The only reason we might need to know what it's made off would be if we can make it."

Annette realized this as well, "Of course. Mass production. We have enough factories to make this possible," she noticed something on her computer and read it.

"Only if we have the proper materials," the man replied.

"Damn. Crellan had the great idea to check this out. If we can mass produce it, we will have a chance to fight back quickly and avoid the worst," Imthor said with hope in his voice.

"Yes. But we still need to have the proper result first. I don't think we have everything on Earth to build those," Michel commented seriously. He put his hands together and wondered if he should accept this chance.

"As for the military, they notified us that a few humans in the city called the news or anyone online about what was going on in Summer Vale. The truth is leaking already," Annette said.

"We have to expect mass panic now," Michel sighed. He cursed that technology had evolved that much.

"I'll call the president and ask what the best course of action should be. We might need to reveal this to the world or people will try to explore to find out whether it is false or true. It'll turn into a dead trap then," she commented as she opened another file linked directly to the president.

Meanwhile, Michel tried to guess where the M'arrillians might go next. He knew where the four kids and Alexandre were. The good news was that the man known as the Messenger of the Cothica, was far away. That was a person they didn't have to protect.


AC: This is the end of this chapter. Next chapter will be release next week and just need to be beta-read before it can be published.

Next week (27 June), I'll take a short break as I'll be busy for a few days.

Next: The Forgotten Land.

Najarin searched for any clues to repair the portal and found a possibility.