A penguin logistics vehicle had currently stopped a few miles outside of the nation known as Rim Billiton. The occupants of the vehicle had been travelling across the barren lands of Terra for several days in their search for Rhodes Island. The leader of the group, the blue-haired sankta, Mostima, told the rest of the group that they should take a break for now. The group had been driving nonstop, and no doubt a rest would be welcome. Fiammetta, the red-haired liberi, was currently stirring around a large spoon in a pot of stew over a fire she was making for the group. Nobody had eaten any proper food for these last few days, and one person in the group, Yua, the white-haired lung, had not eaten at all.
Yua had been suffering from a fever due to getting infected from originium a few days ago. The lung had spent most of her time asleep in the back of the Penguin Logistics vehicle, she did manage to wake up a few times to ask for some water from her aunt, the draco and former leader of Reunion, Talulah. Talulah had been taking care of her time travelling niece since she had become ill, Mostima had volunteered a few times to switch places with her so the draco could get some rest, but Talulah declined. To Talulah, Yua was her niece, so she was her responsibility. The draco was going to do everything in her power to make sure the lung made a full recovery. Losing some sleep wasn't the worst thing Talulah had been through.
As Talulah was watching over her niece, she could see Yua begin to stir. Yua opened her eyes, and it took a few moments for her eyes to focus. When they did, the first thing the white-haired lung could see was her aunt, "Aunt...Talulah?" the lung asked the draco, watching over her. "Yes, Yua. It is me. Are you okay? How are you feeling?" Talulah asked Yua how she was feeling. The draco wasn't sure if her niece had fully recovered from her fever, but seeing that she looked more coherent looked promising. "I feel a bit tired and sore, but other than that, I feel okay." Yua replied as she began to slowly sit up.
Talulah got a better look at Yua as the lung sat up. She didn't look ill like she did several days ago. The draco put the back of her hand on Yua's forehead and didn't feel a temperature like she did before. "Well, you look okay. You aren't shaking and shivering like you were before. Your temperature has also gone down. Can you feel like you can walk, Yua?" the draco asked her niece if she could walk, Talulah thought that Yua getting out of the back of the vehicle and getting some fresh air would hopefully do her some good. Yua nodded and slowly rose to her feet, with Talulah staying close by just in case the lung had trouble walking. Yua began to walk towards the doors of the vehicle and slowly opened them up. She then carefully stepped outside with Talulah right behind her.
Once outside, Yua was hit with the glare of the sun and a mild wind. The white-haired lung had to shield her eyes from the sun's gaze, being stuck in the darkness of a vehicle unable to do anything meant Yua's eyes needed a few minutes to adjust. Talulah also stepped outside. The draco was glad she didn't need to stay inside the vehicle anymore and could stretch her legs for a bit. Mostima, who had been looking around for any signs of danger, had heard the rear doors of the Penguin Logistics vehicle open and went to investigate. The blue-haired sankta could see two people who were now outside, Yua and Talulah.
Mostima began walking up to the two and began to talk, which drew the attention of the pair, "Well, I'm glad to see you are still among the living, Yua. I'm not going to lie. You had me a bit worried there for a few days. I wasn't sure you would make it, I'm glad you did." Mostima told Yua and Talulah. The sankta admitted she was worried about Yua's condition, especially since the way her body reacted to the originium. The sankta had never seen a reaction like that before. Though Mostima knew it was because of Yua's alien blood, it still did get her worried. She became even more concerned when Yua started to develop a fever. Mostima was relieved the lung pulled through.
"Thank you for your concern, Mostima. And thank you for everything." The white-haired lung gave her thanks to the sankta. "I'm not the one who you should be thanking Yua. You should be thanking your aunt. She was the one who took care of you while you were ill. Me and Fiammetta were too busy driving." The sankta told the lung who was the one that deserved her thanks. Yua then turned to her aunt. She was about to say thank you to the draco, but Talulah dismissed it, "You don't need to thank me, Yua. You're my niece, you're my family. It's only right that I was the one who looked after you while you were ill. Besides, I know from this short time that I have got to know you, I know you would do the same for me. Not many would." The lung smiled at the draco when she said this, Yua knew that family meant so much to Talulah. "Well, I imagine after recovering from you illness Yua you must be hungry. Fiammetta is cooking up a stew for us. Do you feel like you can eat?" Mostima asked the lung if she felt fine getting some food. The sankta could imagine the lung must have been hungry if she hadn't been able to eat these past few days.
Yua nodded so the three went around the vehicle to where the red-haired liberi was cooking. As the white-haired lung got closer, some drool started to appear at the edge of her mouth as the smell reached her. Both Mostima and Talulah could notice this, and this caused them both to chuckle as Yua was standing looking at Fiammetta stirring the pot. Fiammetta could hear the chuckling and looked up. She could see Yua staring intently as if in a trance. "Want some stew, Yua?" she asked the lung. This broke Yua out of her trance, and she replied that she would love some stew, the lung was starving. The liberi smiled, then began putting some of the stew in a bowl near her, then handed it to the lung. Yua thanked Fiammetta, then sat down near the fire and began eating. Fiammetta did the same for Mostima, Talulah, then herself. All four of them then began eating around the fire.
As Yua was sitting around the fire and eating, the lung began to feel nostalgic. This reminded her of the times her father took her out on survival lessons when she was young. They never went too far from the landship so as to not worry Ch'en. Her mother did occasionally join the pair when she wasn't too busy. Those were much happier times for Yua, remembering them brought a smile to her face. Talulah looked over towards the white-haired lung and could see her smiling, "You look happy, Yua. Mind telling me what's gotten you so happy?" The draco asked with genuine curiosity. "Oh nothing much, Aunt Talulah. I was just remembering some good times I had with my father and mother." Yua replied. Seeing her niece happy made Talulah happy, she believed her niece deserved some happiness after everything she had been through. The draco hoped her niece would get to experience many more happy memories when they had defeated the future Skadi...
"I'm full...I don't think I can eat another bite." Said the lung after she finished eating. Yua had several portions of the stew that Fiammetta had prepared for the group. "I'm not surprised Yua, you practically inhaled all of that food. Are you sure that isn't your originium arts?" Mostima joked. This brought out a small laugh from everybody. Talulah then remembered that she wanted to see Yua's originium arts for herself, "Yua, if you feel up to it, do you want to show me your originium arts? I'm curious to see what they look like. If you don't feel like using them right now, you can show me another time when you are ready." Talulah asked the white-haired lung If she wanted to use her arts right now. She would be fine with it if Yua didn't want to at the moment. Yua took a moment and then nodded, "Okay aunt Talulah. Just be warned that my originium arts caused me damage in the past. I want to see if Doctor Kal'tsit's theory was correct. It's best we put some distance between us and the vehicle. The last thing I want is to destroy it." Yua warned her aunt of the potential dangers of her originium arts.
"Okay Yua, me and Fiammetta will be here if things go wrong. We are a few miles from Rim Billiton. We will get you to a hospital if anything happens." Mostima assured Yua they would get her help if something bad happened. While Rim Billiton was home of many infected, the nation did have hospitals available to treat the infected and the wounded. The mining companies running the nation only built them so they wouldn't lose too much man power for their mines. They didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Profit came before anything else, and dead people didn't make money. Satisfied that she would get help if things went wrong, niece and aunt began walking a far distance away, so Mostima, Fiammetta, and their vehicle wouldn't get caught in the range of Yua's shockwaves.
Once Yua was sure that she was a safe distance away, Yua then stopped. She then told Talulah to put some distance between themselves so she would have time to get down. "Okay Yua! Whenever you're ready!" Talulah shouted at her niece once she was sure she was at a safe distance herself. Yua closed her eyes and got her breathing under control. She then called forth her power. The wind around her began to speed up, the air around Yua began to get warmer, Talulah could feel the heat rising from where she was standing, Yua then began to glow a bright blood red. "Huh, so this is what Ch'en said that Swire told her. I admit, this doesn't look like any normal originium arts. This looks powerful." Mostima thought to herself while observing the lung.
Mostima and Fiammetta could see Yua glowing from where they were. The blue-haired sankta and red-haired liberi were impressed by what they were both seeing. Yua carried on glowing, the wind kept on speeding up, and the air kept getting hotter. Once Yua was ready, she then let off a shockwave that travelled in all directions around her. Talulah saw the shockwave coming and quickly got down on the ground. The draco felt the shockwave travelling over her. Mostima and Fiammetta also saw the shockwave. They believed it would dissipate before reaching them.
The shockwave kept coming, however, and Mostima could see it wasn't going to dissipate, "Fiammetta! Get down!" she shouted to her friend as she got to the ground. Fiammetta did the same and managed to get to the floor before the shockwave reached her. It went over both their heads and hit the vehicle. Once the shockwave made contact with the vehicle, then dissipated, and the rest of the shockwave that Yua unleashed then dissipated as well. Yua then began to stop glowing. The lung waited to see if she felt any negative effects from using her originium arts like she did before. Yua kept waiting, but after some time, the white-haired lung felt fine. She didn't feel any negative effects. "I'm not coughing up any blood, I don't feel any pain...I'm okay...I'm okay!" it took a few seconds for it to dawn on Yua that she felt fine, not feeling any effects like from the past the lung then began to jump around and celebrate.
Hearing Yua's celebration, Talulah, Mostima, and Fiammetta then all got to their feet. Talulah went towards her niece, and Mostima and Fiammetta began checking the vehicle for any signs of damage. The lung could see the draco approaching and ran up to her and grabbed her hands, she then began jumping up and down like a child that had eaten too much sugar, "I feel fine aunt Talulah! I feel fine! I'm not coughing up blood! Doctor Kal'tsit was right! It worked! Getting infected worked! I can use my originium arts! This is amazing!" Yua was clearly happy that she no longer suffered her deadly weakness, the lung felt on top of Terra. She believed this power could help her defeat the future aegir. "I'm happy for you, Yua, but can you please calm down. We still need to get back to Rhodes Island and inform Ch'en and the doctor. I'm sure Doctor Kal'tsit will want to know this as well." While Talulah was happy for her niece, she still remembered they needed to get back to Rhodes Island as quickly as they could. They needed to stop the aegir, but also they needed to find out why the originium particles on Yua's arm were red. Yua herself hadn't looked at them yet, but no doubt, when she did, she would want to find out as well.
Talulah also knew that Yua needed help to control her originium arts, while her arts weren't as powerful as her own they looked wild and unrefined. Because Yua hadn't really used them much, she would need help to use them in a way that wasn't a danger to those around her. The white-haired lung would need time to refine her originium arts so she wouldn't kill any teammates, Talulah wanted to help with that. They didn't have time for that however. They had to prevent her future from happening again. Once Yua calmed down, both the draco and the lung began walking over to the other members of their group to decide their next move.
Fiammetta and Mostima were looking over the vehicle for any damage. The blue-haired sankta and the liberi checked the vehicle inside and out. The only visible damage on the outside was a window that had melted when Yua's shockwave made contact with it. They carried on checking the outside, but the only other thing they noticed was that the vehicle felt hot to the touch on the same side. They then checked inside and couldn't see any damage.
When they went inside the back, all they could see and feel was that it felt incredibly hot, like they had walked into a sauna. Nothing in the back had been damaged or burned. "Yua's power is weird. Swire told Ch'en that when Yua used her originium arts, the seaborn that were hit looked like they had been burned inside-out. Does her power only do that to living beings? We need to look into this. I've never seen anything like this before." Mostima remembered what the future Ch'en said to her about Yua's power. Now that she saw it for herself, it could only be described as unique. Mostima theorised that's why the originium particles on her arm were red. There had to be a connection between the two. It would definitely need looking into. For now, the most important thing was getting back to Rhodes Island and quickly. Once Talulah and Yua had joined them, the four began to talk.
Yua could see what her originium arts had done and apologised for the melted window. Mostima replied that it was fine, the vehicle could still move, that was the most important thing. They discussed on what to do and Yua remembered that Rhodes Island were at the Copper Coast not to long ago before Mostima and Fiammetta found her, she wasn't sure they were still there but it was worth having a look. If they weren't still there, they could ask and find out where they went. All agreed on this plan.
All of them got in the vehicle and began driving off towards Rim Billiton and the Copper Coast. Nobody knew if Rhodes Island was still there, but they had to find them fast. Time was running out for Terra. Skadi could destroy the world any day now. Nobody was looking forward to confronting the future aegir, but they had to try to stop her, Terra's future was at stake...
"Why won't you forget them?! Why doctor?! Don't you see you only need me?! Forget Ch'en! Forget Yua! Forget everyone else! Forget them all and we can live in our perfect world... just the two of us." In an unknown location in an abandoned temple built to Ishar-Mla by the ancient followers of the church of the deep the Skadi from Yua's timeline was trying to erase the memories of the doctor and replace them with herself.
The god of the seaborn, however, was having great difficulty removing the man's memories of his loved ones. The doctors mind was the most complex and resilient enemy she had ever encountered. No matter what she tried, the doctors mind wouldn't buckle or change. Even though he was in a deep sleep, the aegir couldn't morph his mind into what she wanted. Skadi was using all her power, but nothing worked. It was frustrating her to no end.
The future aegir got more and more frustrated as time went on. She was beginning to think of drastic measures. Skadi was thinking of turning the man into one of her kin, "No...I can't do that. Not to the doctor. He won't be the same man I love... there has to be a way." Skadi quickly discarded that idea. If she turned the man into a seaborn, he would just be another one of her kin, an empty vessel that she would control. Nothing of the man she loved would remain. "There's no other choice. If I can't remove everyone from his mind, then I have to remove them from Terra. If it's just me and him left... then he will love me...he has to love me! He will only need me... just me and the doctor...forever." The future aegir could only think of one way to have the doctor for herself. She would need to destroy everyone he knew and loved. Yua was gone, killed by her own hand. The only people left on Terra that he truly cared about were those at Rhodes Island...and Ch'en Hui-Chieh.
"You are going to die Ch'en Hui-Chieh! Once you and the rest of Terra are gone, it will only be me and the doctor! My Kin! Find Rhodes Island! Find whoever is in your way! Destroy them! Leave no one alive this time! And Ch'en Hui-Chieh...make her suffer! Rip her heart from her chest! Remove her disgusting existence!" Skadi telepathically ordered all the seaborn across Terra to kill everything in sight. She wanted to kill Ch'en herself this time, but she wasn't going to give up manipulating the doctors mind. She wouldn't give up. He would become what she wanted. All of the seaborn across Terra heard the call of their god and began heading towards the land. Their directive was to kill everyone in sight... and kill the one known as Ch'en Hui-Chieh.
Those in Terra didn't know the horror that was heading their way...the invasion of the seaborn had begun...