Chapter 71: What now?

[Brigid]: My lab!

She kneeled on the ground after seeing the state her forge/lab had become. It was utterly destroyed. Broken shards of class and exposed electrical wire littered the floor. Her marble counter tops had been reduced to nothing but chunks of rubble.

[Brigid]: It took so long to get it just right…

She looked dejected.

[Kate]: Cheer up, maybe some things can be salvages.

[Brigid]: Your right! Hurry help me find things that aren’t broken yet!

Kate and Brigid left early to a safer location. They avoided the head on calamity. They returned after Maximus passed by saying its safe now.

She manage to salvage very little amount of tools and vials of chemicals.

[Brigid]: I knew I should have taken it with me…

She looked at the small pile of things she had left and sighed.

[Kate]: Look on the bright side, at least your safe.

[Brigid]: God I wish I could have punched that lizard bastard for doing this to my lab.

She was fuming.

Crule and company walked up to them.

[Crule]: Looks like your lab has seen better days.

[Brigid]: Don’t test me.

[Crule]: OK, ok, now you have more reason to join us.

[Brigid]: I was going to join you guys anyways!

[Crule]: Oh…you guys manage to convince her? That’s surprising.

[Ming]: Amazing indeed.

[Shin]: We aren’t completely useless…

[Chun Qin]: We didn’t do anything though…Kate did all the work.

[Kate]: Wait a minute…

Brigid threw a tantrum and calmed down after a while.

[Brigid]: So what now?

[Crule]: Now we go prepare for the grand opening.

[Brigid]: I see…you owe me a lab.

[Crule]: Sure, sure, how about you get to take over the empty room in my ship? Make it your portable lab.

[Brigid]: Fine.

[Shin]: That aside, what do you mean by “prepare”? I thought we already prepared.

[Crule]: There’s still some things that needs to be done. For example, finding the pale rider.

[Shin]: Ah…that’s right.

[Ming]: We don’t have any clue as to where he is though.

[Crule]: We can only test our luck…Also, with the energy density increasing, you guys should train a lot easier now. It should feel like you suddenly entered into an oxygen rich environment after staying on top a mountain all your life.

[Shin]: Now that you mention it, I feel a lot stronger when I was fighting the drake.

[Chun Qin]: Same. It felt as if my energy supply was significantly more than usual.

[Crule]: That’s due to one of the fake seals breaking.

[Chun Qin]: Seals?

[Shin]: Yea, what seals?

[Crule]: I though explain it to you guys now that we got this far. Brigid come and join us too, I can tell you about it also.

The gathered up next to a small campfire they made whilst chatting. The dead drake was on the menu for tonight. While they were enjoying a delicious meal, Crule explained the seals.

[Crule]: The original seven seals were created long ago when the first pioneers set foot on this planet. They found the energy rich and pure. Back then it covered the entire planet and even all of its moons. But it was too rich and at times even noxious. Monsters and beasts on the planet were far too dangerous for human settlement and the environment was not good for long term survival. After the incident on Crecentia, they wanted to ensure the safety of the survivors. Thus they created the seals.

[Shin]: Who? Who were the ones who made these powerful seals that could limit the bountiful energy on the planet? It’s like reducing the oxygen content of an entire planet.

[Crule]: I was getting to that part. The original pioneers had seven leaders. Five of which you guys should know. They are the four riders and the Sage of Time.

[Chun Qin]: The Sage is really THAT old?

[Crule]: Yes. He has been around long enough to be considered non-human. He’s more of a deity now.

[Kate]: Wait, who are the other two pioneers then?

[Crule]: Those two were the most powerful of the original seven. One who took on the mantle of Chaos, and the other took Fate.

[Shin]: Why haven’t we heard about these two from the riders or the sage?

[Crule]: Because it’s a dark past they do not want to talk about. Chaos was too power hungry. He created a fake seal which allowed him to absorb pure energy from the planet. Fate and the other pioneers ganged up to take him down before he got too powerful. The result was the destruction of Crecentia.

[Chun Qin]: Wait, didn’t Crecentia already get destroyed by the time they made the seven seals?

[Crule]: No, it didn’t get destroyed, but rather rendered uninhabitable due to a certain disease that spread. Those who manage to contract the disease and survive were these seven pioneers. The rest either died or remain uninfected.

[Chun Qin]: So that’s why they left that planet?

[Crule]: Yes. When they left the planet, it was still whole. After their fight with chaos, the planet was demolished to the point where it exists now.

[Shin]: I’m not a scientist but shouldn’t that planet slowly reform back into a sphere due to gravity?

[Crule]: Normally it should, but where do you think they sealed Chaos?

[Shin]: Wait, this can’t be… He’s only sealed and not dead?!

[Crule]: Yes. The seal manages to stop the time within the nearest vicinity of the planet. The Sage of Time had to borrow the power from all the surviving pioneers to create it.

[Chun Qin]: This secret is far too great to keep hidden. Why isn’t the governments of Noxia informed of this?

[Crule]: Because it’s better left unknown. As long as no one tempers with it, it should remained sealed.

[Shin]: Let me guess, Grimly?

[Crule]: Yep. Grimly somehow discovered this secret and is trying to release Chaos.

[Kate]: Why?

[Crule]: Remember how each of the riders took on disciples? Even the Sage of Time wanted you Kate as his disciple. Chaos wants one too.

[Shin]: So he’s trying to become Chaos’s disciple?

[Crule]: Yes, Grimly is as power hungry and mad as Chaos.

[Brigid]: This is interesting and all that, but what about Fate?

[Crule]: She…perished trying to stop Chaos.

[Everyone]: …

A silence swept pass the camp. They have finished their meal by now and were silently thinking about the past.

[Brigid]: So about these fake seals?

[Crule]: Ah yes, there is two seals which has fake seals on it which are slowly destroying them. The other five are spread out over the Wild.

[Shin]: Ah, it all make sense now. So that’s why his company is performing this Antagonist Games?

[Crule]: Yes, in the pretense of a game, he is going to get other people to do the work for him…and they are just going to think it’s an event within the game.

[Chun Qin]: Those clueless idiots…they don’t even know their actions will doom the planet.

[Crule]: Not only the planet. Chaos will consume even the galaxy if required.

[Kate]: This…So this is why you came back?

[Crule]: I didn’t reveal the whole truth until now…Our mission is far more serious than you think. But we have many ways to stop them. Our main method is to reseal the seals ourselves. This means we have to participate in the Games and reached there before anyone else.

[Shin]: You make it sound easier said than done…

[Crule]: It isn’t easy.

[Ming]: Crule and I back in our old world barely managed to do so but it was too late.

[Crule]: Yea…back then Grimly disappeared and we thought it was over.

[Ming]: Mhm, but a few years of peace later, he returned with that abomination Chaos and proceeded to systematically destroy the planet.

[Crule]: It was torture watching the world slowly get destroyed and we could do nothing about it.

[Ming]: Yea…

They both looked sadly at the fire in the middle.

[Brigid]: Cheer up you two love bird, this time we know before hand and have everyone here to help!

[Shin]: Yea, we will definitely stop him!

[Chun Qin]: You have my support.

[Kate]: Don’t think of taking on this burden by yourself!

[Crule]: You guys…

They laughed and chatted until the fire died out and they went to sleep back on Crule’s ship.