Titanium watched the young boy. He could feel the fear coming out of him. The Metalist couldn't complain about it. He was the cause of it. He kidnapped the boy from his home and brought him to his world. He turned to the side, "Come with me. There is a room at the back. It will be better to see why I brought you here and explain the history of the Metalist."

"Okay."

"And there is no reason to be afraid," his head turned towards the boy, "I like funny guy s like you. Just… If any of my soldiers asked how it went when I grab you… Don't mention that I tripped and crashed on the ground. They are not going to stop bringing that I should stop wearing this cape," he showed it off, "I love this cape," he rolled it around himself as the boy told himself to nor mention that. He didn't want to provoke the creature.

Titanium walked away slowly, so the human could accompany him.

Peyton followed him. He was a bit nervous, but found the courage to ask, "Why did you kidnap me?"

"Because we have little options. It is safer to kidnap you than invite you. Also, we need to real you," he answered as he stood in front of a large silver door.

"Why is it safer?"

Titanium mood turned a bit sour for a few seconds. He avoided looking at the boy for a few seconds, before he turned back with a bit of a gentle smile, "It will be clear when I explain everything, but not every Metalist likes or would tolerate humans."

Peyton nodded quietly. That felt with a bit of bad news. He guessed it was why he was brought here by teleportation twice. He looked at the door as it opened on its own. He walked inside. He was curious and wanted to know what was going on.

Chapter 18: Humans And Metalists

Sarah watched the name on the paper. She slowly raised her head, "Are you serious?"

Khybon had a victorious grin on his face and it didn't leave when Kaz glared at him. Right now, it was proven that the Earth was the Cothica.

The Matriarch nodded, "Yes. I am serious. The history of our world is much longer than you believe," she put her hands together, "We didn't bring you here because revealing this wasn't necessary until now."

They weren't sure if she already said this or not. They didn't argue about it.

Kaz sighed as he found a question, "Why was it even name the Cothica long ago?"

"That reason is lost. We don't have every document from our far past. Many has been lost and those we have here are well preserve. This one I showed you is a copy. Not the original. We won't put them at risk," she coughed once before she got back her breath, "Long ago, creatures from Perim and the Cothica were in contact with one another. However, many problems eventually arise between the two worlds and the contact had to come to an end. Some tribes became too ambitious and tried to invade our world and get everything under control," she appeared to be ready to say more, but nothing else came out of her mouth. She glanced at the Underworlder, "You can guess which tribe tried the most."

The humans glanced at Khybon who nervously chuckled.

The Matriach chuckled and went on, "After this, no portal was activated from Perim for a long time. The Elementalist erased the existence of those portals and eventually, the creatures forgot about its existence."

"This is way too much," Sarah commented.

Kaz was also disturb by their reality, once which they never knew about. It did make a bit of sense that there was more. With the existence of the portal, it was acceptable to think that creatures came here long ago. Like the creature named Set. Still, everything surrounding it makes it more complicated.

"Technology was also bigger than before. Just a little glimpse you see here can tell you that. Creating liquid as sources of light. Way to preserves book for so long. Chaotic and everything there are based on what human could easily created long ago. So many things lost because of time," she gazed down. She looked at them again, "I know this is so much to learn and difficult to accept. I rather you learned it slowly and surely with the return of the creatures here, but the Metalist came and took one of the 'Guide to the Cothica', as you creatures called them."

Khybon asked, "And why did they get him? It's surely more than just coming here. They wouldn't need him for that."

"They cannot just take Chaotic by force when they have no access to it. I heard they increase security so that they preauthorise creatures who used Telebracers and not a scanner to port to Chaotic," she commented.

"Why would they want our friend?" Tom asked as he saw his two friends weren't in shape of asking questions right now. They were still trying to process everything that went into their brain. He also grew worried with those Metalist creatures.

"Let me tell you a story about them."

Titanium went on with his tale. He grabbed a small crystal cube and put it on a small desk.

The room they were in was a small one. Two shelves that seemed it could contain books were on both side of the room. At the middle, there was a small silver table with two chairs, which looked way too small for the king of the Metalist.

The creature sat down anyway and the chair screeched under his weight, "This cube contains a few images and texts. You won't get anything from those texts. Still those images will help you understand it," he pressed on the cube and an image appeared.

It was an image of an ancient painting. It pictured two factions at war against each other's. On the left side, they were humans with strange weapons that seemed out of a dream or in a sci-fi movie. On the other, the Metalists with their weapons out.

The creature began his speech. When he talked, it felt like the boy couldn't interrupt, "There was a war between your kind and our own long ago. It was a bloody war where human's blood and Metalists oil filled the soil of the Cothica. This image is the tamest one we have and the less… clear about the rest that came out. We are bigger and stronger than humans, but your kind was extremely resourceful and resilient under our pressure."

The king put his hand on his back as he lowered his head. He let out a short break that opened the possibility of a dialogue.

"This feels like a movie. It's really hard to believe that dude," he looked at the image on it. Peyton couldn't believe that what he saw was real. It could be a fake image from the cube. He avoided looking at the creature when his head turned towards him. He gulped as he wondered if he offended the creature.

"Of course, it would be hard to believe, only those humans in their garment knew about me and tried to stop me from getting you."

The boy looked closely at the image when the Metalist spoke of the cultists. He saw that they wore similar clothes than the group that stalked him and his friends. He couldn't believe he made that at the last second. He wasn't there long enough to make something like that, "You were at war with them."

"They are the warriors who fought and defeated us," Titanium went on, "We lost against their ingenuity and their light," he sighed, "And we couldn't return to the Cothica since then."

"The Earth is not the Cothica," Peyton grumbled.

The creature laughed loudly for a few seconds. Once again, he went on, closing the possibility to talk back or interrupt, "It is. That part of your history surely has been lost. Still, Earth is abetter name than Cothica. There is the word heart in it," he put his hand on his chest. He gave the boy a small smile. That smile was gone quickly, "With the defeat of our people, not every Metalist is over that defeat. Many are bitter and might want revenge on your kind. This is why security will be quite big here. For your own safety and for our final goal," he reminded silent, glancing at the boy and waiting for the question.

"Which is…" Peyton didn't dare to go further.

A smirk appeared on his face.

"The war was long and humanity took heavy loses," the Matriarch concluded. She showed a book that contained many images and texts about the creature of metal that attacked humans long ago. She crossed her hands together, "There are no ruins outside left of the war and the old civilisations. It was long ago and there is little remaining. What remained is here," she concluded. She looked at them. None of the humans and the creature had anything to say, "Still, you can see how our kind is quickly getting back on their feet. Much faster than it took to reach that point long ago. It is sad that they are a few things that are lost forever. Things we could do, but only us continued to train. I will spare the many details. It would take weeks to explain how the world turn like this in the present time. I look like a rambling grandmother," she chuckled as she put the book on the side. She seriously glanced at them. She prevented them from asking any questions or putting her words into question, "You can ask Michel and Annette in the matter. They can confirm if we are telling the true or not."

The three teens took note of that suggestion. They would seriously verify that later.

Tom glanced at his cellphone and his scanner. He had a feeling his mother tried to contact him already. He knew that his friends also checked just like him. Once he passed over that, something came in his mind. The very fact that humans and Metalists ended up in a war against each other's. He looked at the Matriarch and asked, "How did this war even began? The Metalist managed to pass the army through a portal and we couldn't stop it?" a hint of suspicion came in his voice, "Because I don't think it would be that easy to stop it."

"You are right. It would be easy to close the portal from a distance. For the war to be this big… The Metalist army needed to already be here before it began and it was quite easily to do."

"What do you mean?" Kaz asked with a bit of disbelief.

"Has any of you tried to scan one of those creatures?" the old lady asked.

Khybon curiously glanced at the humans. He knew Kaz never met them.

Tom nodded negatively, "No."

Sarah sighed, "I don't think so," her code didn't come back with that memory yet.

"That will make things a bit more complicated to believe," she stood up and walked to another shelf. She grabbed a map and put it near them. She opened it and revealed the content of the map to the group.

The three humans' eyes shrunk. Breathing turn short at the sight of it. If the map was authentic, it meant…

The metal creature showed an ancient map. The hologram of an ancient map. He also offered the original map, "Our final goal is very simple, but the path to achieve it is quite complicated," he let out the suspense for a few seconds as he prepared to tell directly what it was. The king was uncertain if the boy would believe him or not. Titanium glanced at the boy and saw the teen opened to his answer. He showed it and declared with a heavy heart, "Our goal is to go back home."

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: To Believe Or Not Believe.

The four teenagers struggled to answer at the discovery and how to go on afterwards.