Both on Earth and in Chaotic, Tom, Kaz and Sarah were ready to check everything the cult told them. They still struggled to agree that it might be true. They would ask both Michel and Annette on Earth and the Codemasters in Chaotic. They had no idea if they would talk or not. There was a higher chance with the Codemasters. Still, they had to ask.

Khybon couldn't at both places at the same time compared to the players, so he followed those on Earth. He wanted to be a hundred pour cent certain that this was the true. He knew the Cothica was there, but if the humans agreed to it, it would be perfect.

The three humans took a deep breath. The time came. The three and the creature went in the car that would drive them to the organisation, while they sent their code for answers.

Chapter 24: The Truth Of The Earth

Tom and his two friends reached Chaotic. They noticed an increase in security immediately. Peyton disappeared not long ago and they guessed the Codemasters knew well what happened. It was just they wanted to prevent another case.

"How come they use the portal here?" Sarah wondered curiously. It made little sense on how the place was protected. They witnessed it in person last year.

A girl quickly rushed towards them, "Hey!" she worryingly got their attention.

"Lulu," Tom recognised her.

Lulu was a girl with red hair and brown eyes. She wore a green shirt with black pants. She panted when she was near them. She adjusted her glasses, "Do you know what happened to Peyton? I got no answer from my texts, the security is just big and he's not with you. Is something going on?"

"Yeah," Kaz replied.

Sarah spilled the bean, "Peyton was abducted by metal creatures on Earth and brought him back here. His real self on Perim, if it's true."

Lulu didn't take the news well, "How is this possible? The creatures couldn't reach the Earth before passing here. What happened?"

Tom and his girlfriend explained what happened.

"Those creatures did it. I thought they weren't that bad," she replied.

"What?" Sarah asked.

"You met one of them?" Kaz asked.

"Yeah. He helped me when I was in a bit of trouble. Said that a pretty girl like me shouldn't be reckless. He was a bit weird, so I port out quickly after thanking him. I thought it was a new tribe who showed up before they think the Cothica is our world."

That brought a bit of tension in the air, as they weren't aware of what happened. They had to talk with the Codemasters.

"We need to talk to the Codemasters about that. We heard a few things about those Metalist, but they might know if it's true or not," Tom said. His friends glanced at him as he just spoke a bit too much in the matter, "We'll tell you later. I mean, we are friends and we need to find anything to help Peyton."

Lulu nodded, "I'll help in any ways I can. Maybe their tribe might say something by accident if I see them again. I'll do my best to save Peyton," she clenched her hands together, "Tell me what's going on when you know more about it."

Kaz sighed as just put his hand over his face. A small smile appeared on his face, "We will."

Sarah saw one of the drones flew near them, "We need to talk with the Codemasters now please."

The drone answered quickly, "They are ready to greet you in the same room as last time. Please, follow me," the drone flew away and three followed it.

Lulu stayed behind, before she went at the table where the four usually went.

The four waited in the room, wondering which Codemaster would come.

Codemaster Crellan entered in the room and observed them, "It seems your code are well aware that Peyton disappeared," he sat on a chair as he crossed his fingers. He wondered why they were called, "I came instead of Imthor. He is busy advancing the defense of Chaotic. With this creature that managed to get your friend, we need to make sure they had no way of coming here again," he glanced at the side, "If that Titanium teleported here first. We checked all footage and no result," he sighed as he put his hands on his face, powerless to help in the matter.

The three humans felt bad of the Codemasters who had to deal with so many things already.

"Sorry about this. You came to ask me something important and I just vent this up on you. Anyway, what's the matter?"

Sarah crossed her fingers a bit nervously. She formulated her thought as she began to bring to the subject, "It's not that much about Peyton, but it's about what happened after he was kidnapped."

Crellan gave his full attention.

"We were brought by a group of people. An old lady called the Matriach said that they were the Guardian of the Cothica," Tom began.

The expression of the Codemaster seemed to change. Despite the mask, the eyes suddenly shined brighter.

Sarah grunted, "You knew about them! For how long?"

"Not that long ago," the Codemaster turned around and avoided looking at them, "You know we are IA. Artificial Intelligence. Michel and Annette recently gave all the details in the matter. It was the day before those Metalist shows up. We never knew where everything in the Cothica came from. The information we had was that an old tribe build everything here. Turns out it was humans very long ago," the IA finally turned towards them, "And our creator, had a powerful mind. Even if our personality is made by accident, he had the natural talent to create things that humans could do before. The 'Messenger's' father built a scanner that could travel through time. It was somethings humans could do long ago."

"The f-"

"Language please," Crellan interrupted her before she finished her sentence, "Not all great inventions like this were made by him. He's not the only one who built machines that could travel through time. Nicola Tesla was among those geniuses. Anyway, back to the matter. We knew this recently when they told us about it. I can confirm that the Guardian of the Cothica is real," he froze for a few seconds as he received a message, "Seems you also asked Michel and Annette on Earth."

"We tried both ways," Sarah replied.

Kaz decided to share his own thought, "If you know about them. Those that mean that you know that our world was actually the Cothica… But you don't know that the Metalist came straight to Earth, without teleporting to Chaotic first."

Crellan asked in disbelief, "They… avoided us?"

"That's what the Matriarch said," Kaz went on.

"What are we even useful for?" the Codemaster asked with a bit of desperation.

That question didn't sound good. It seemed like Crellan felt like he failed them. Not just that, it felt like the word 'again' was also part of it. It was a bit easy to guess that part with what happened last year.

Tom asked, "And everything else you succeeded? You are doing so much. You can't just do everything. I mean, if what the Matriarch said is true, they didn't use Chaotic to exile those metal creatures," he held his hands together, "You knew as much as we did. No way anyone could be ready for them."

"Don't try to make me feel like a child," came the reply of the IA.

"How old are you anyway?" Sarah asked.

They got no answer. It seemed like it was something that would never have an answer.

Crellan glanced at him. He sighed, "We did lack data to prevent the lost of your friend. Still, we are responsible for the safety of the Earth and we… We couldn't do anything," he avoided saying that they failed. Thinking back, they couldn't even try to prevent this. No location of the Metalist, no way of knowing what they could do and little time to prepare for this, "Peyton is surely in their territory now. One we have no knowledge about, just like the Elementalist," his blue eyes shined at them as he pushed his heavier emotions away, "I can give you a bit more about the Guardians of the Cothica is you need too. We Codemasters overheard a bit more than they thought."

"Yes," Sarah replied while her friends said, "Sure."

"This is between us. We didn't tell Michel and Annette because it might put them at risk as of now," the Codemaster crossed his fingers together. He glanced at each of them, making sure he got their full attention, "The duty of the Guardians of the Cothica is to protect the Cothica from any outside threat. What danger is caused by humans; they would remain on the side. Since the creatures of Perim showed up, they are going to show themselves and keep a close eye on the creatures. They have the power of the light. They can fight like creatures, but they are physically weaker. They were the one who sent the Metalist here," he concluded what they already knew. He mostly confirmed the truth in the matter. What was new was that they stayed outside of human vs human business, "They are also waiting to find someone worthy of something. They muttered about maybe finding someone who could find some kind of gem or jewel, but that's all I heard."

"A gem or… jewel?" Kaz asked uncertain of what that meant.

"Whatever it is, it must be something important. They brought this up because of the Metalist and how it could help them solve this issue. Still, I don't believe they are delusional in the matter. They have great power and this thing must be extremely important if they are searching for someone worthy of finding it. What it could do or what it meant, I have no idea," Crellan concluded that part. He tapped the table with his fingers, "I have no idea what they are searching meant or if it's real or not."

"They never told us about that part," Sarah frowned.

"I think we just wouldn't believe them more. I mean, she kinda said she was losing us a bit. Maybe it's because Khybon was with us too. I mean, that would make the creatures want to search for it."

Kaz realised something when he thought back of his talk with Lord Van Bloot, "Van Bloot said he was after one of those things. Chaor doesn't seem to know, but Van Bloot think that is true. How can he think about that when Chaor didn't. I know he would want to get this jewel or gem first."

The Codemaster had no answer to offer.

Tom wondered, "Maybe it's something the M'arrillians might suspect and- No," he shook his head, "Milla'iin would be after that jewel if he knew anything about it. Van Bloot might find something before he tried to capture you. No one knew where he was for more than a year."

"There might be something to investigate in Perim. Maybe some of those things are documents left behind by the Elementalists. They seemed to know more about your kind and the portals too," Crellan realised. He scratched his chin as he tried to figure out more on the matter, "Maybe the Elementalists have a clue about the Metalist locations. If they remembered humans more than the creatures, maybe they know where the tribe that took Peyton is. That's still a big maybe."

"We don't know where they are," Sarah sighed.

Tom had an idea, "I know who might know. Tera Motus is one of them and he is in Kiru city. I'll ask him when I'll go there tomorrow. Maxxor might need to know what happened too."

Sarah and Kaz glanced at each other's. The red-haired boy spoke before her, "I'll ask-" he stopped before he said Chaor, "Agitos a few things. Maybe he has a clue about what Van Bloot knows and there is something else I need to know."

Sarah nodded, "I'll ask the queen. There is not a big chance they know something, but I got to try."

The Codemaster said, "I'll find the time to wander around Perim and begin an investigation in the matter of the Metalist locations. Maybe the other Codemasters might help when they are not busy with a match. Imthor surely will want to check in the matter."

Once they were done talking, the four left the room and went their separate ways. They had a lot to search.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: The Search Of Clues

Tom went to Kiru city and searched for Tera Motus to find the location of the Elementalists in hope of finding where the Metalists were.