Chapter Four

Part One: At The End of The Day 

 Soleria calmly sat alone in Arsyle’s Laboratory. Located in the basement of the Courthouse, it was mostly counters with a cluttered mess on top. Tools, papers and notebooks were scattered all about his domain. With no signs of order. The computer monitor’s screen had sticky notes lathered all over it. She’s never even seen so many words being able to be crammed into one of those before, until now. 

“Ehghhh...someone likes writing a little too much.” Mumbled Soleria to herself. She couldn’t tell if she was impressed or concerned, she realized it might be a mixture of the two. 

Then out of the blue, Arsyle enter the office with a plate. The plate had Glazed Cakes and tea. He walked over where Soleria was sitting and nonchalantly swept all of the clutter on the table before them, onto the floor. “Ah! Soleria Illow would you care for anything on this plate?” He asked politely, as his items plopped onto the ground.

“Sure I’ll take both please, thank you.” Said Soleria with a smile as Arsyle handed her a glazed cake and tea.

After he served her, he sat down on the opposite side of the table. He rolled his shoulders back and gazed at Soleria with his calm grey eyes. 

“You know it’s rare to have another Observer in the Evangelist Federation… usually there’s one or two max per decade.” He Informed while taking a nice sip of tea.

“Ah you know, I just wanted to help out where I can! Humanity needs us to guide them..but instead we just beat them down…” she added solemnly looking down at her teacup. 

Arsyle smiled. “Yes. We Intrinsic surly are guilty of that. I must say though. It’s still bold of you to become one. This position isn’t meant for everyone after all.” He added with a chuckle, shaking his head dismissively. 

Arsyle cleared his throat. It was time to get straight to the point. “So, what type of codes are you looking for? Skilled warriors? Talented individuals? Units with personality?” He asked.

Soleria took a bite of her Glazed cake.” Hmmm. Well I’m not quite sure. I’ve never even seen a human before...aren’t you an expert? I say get the best team you possibly can.”

Arsyle chuckled to himself. “Running blind into the unknown I see...you're either an idiot or…” he stopped his train of thought and sighed. “I must ask Mrs Illow. What were the conditions Cephyr Orion gave you?”

Soleria paused. Cephyr’s words from their dispute echoed in her head.  “If you fail, and I see no obvious result from your endeavors… I will not hesitate, and I will have every human in our territory to be reduced to ash.” Soleria thought for a moment as she sipped her tea. 

“Cephyr Orion said that if he could see noticeable improvements in the Units, then he would call off his plan to end the Restoration Project. If I train them and treat them like people, I think they’ll become better soldiers for the Federation.” Explained Soleria.

“I do agree our current method of handling Abyssiti is in fact, quite outdated.” He mumbled to himself as he looked down at the table.

Arsyle stared at her. He leaned back into his seat. His mind began to rapidly think of a solution, and it didn’t take him long. “There’s a Batch...Batch:26A. They haven’t passed the perseverance test twice now, and are doomed for failure. They are scheduled for termination tomorrow.” 

“Your worst Batch? No, no. I don’t see how the worst performing units would help me here Arsyle, if they can’t handle a test how can they handle Abyssiti?!” She asked, completely lost to the benefit of it. 

Arsyle lifted an eyebrow. He pointed to the temple of his head and gave Soleria an intense glare. Which caused her to sink into her chair a little bit.

“Listen, Illow! Play the game. Use your head.” Arsyle gave her a look. “Cephyr is looking for obvious growth of performance, under your method. Why train the “best” in the field into being mediocre, when you can train garbage into being the best?” 

“It’s the most pragmatic approach to this.” He ended. 

Soleria thought for a moment. Then it hit her. He had a point; this was a delicate matter. If the difference of quality isn’t drastic enough, all of humanity may be eradicated. She couldn’t risk running into this situation recklessly.

“Right. Understood. Please assign Batch:26A to me.” She nodded, to which Arsyle responded in kind. 

“What about the other batch?” He asked. “You did ask for two after all.”

Soleria ate the rest of her Glazed Cake and washed it down with the remainder of her tea. “Uhh your pick. As an human expert, you’d know better than anyone who should be paired with Batch:26A” 

Arsyle grinned a mischievous grin. “A human expert you say? Ah yes, of course.” He said while clapping his hands together. “ Is that all?”

Soleria thought for a while. That was all that she needed as far as she knew. Soon she’ll be an Observer, meeting all sorts of new people. It was thrilling to her Soleria could feel herself getting giddy in advance.

“Yes! That’s all! I really appreciate it Arsyle Cosme!” She thanked while vigorously shaking his hand across the table.

She began to get up out of her seat to leave, but before she got far she froze in her tracks. There was one more thing on her mind. “The Omega Squad...Yesterday. They had one single survivor come back right? Can you also assign that Abyssus Unit to me?”

Arsyle paused and ran his fingers through his pale golden hair “Mmm you mean 732-C? Yeah, I can. However I’ll have to pair him up with a new team. It should be relatively easy though.” He pondered. 

Soleria smiled, “Alright. Well until then! Thanks for all your help sir!” She cheered as she waved farewell and went about the rest of her day. 

Arsyle remained seated as his bright facial expression faded. He sat alone in his Laboratory in silence for a while. Contemplating. To him Soleria was illogical, naive, and emotionally driven. Her lofty ideals on how things should go, keeps her oblivious to reality. He stood up and reached into his pocket, to pull out a single piece of paper. He held it in his hand and read it. 

“The position...of an Observer isn't for those who are weak of heart.” He mumbled to himself as he crushed the page. 

Elsewhere, the 3 moons loomed overhead, as the sun began to set, it casted a orange hue over the decimation caused by the beings from beyond the Rift. The 3 Abyssiti continued to pick off any stragglers in the area. A single Abyssus unit was hiding, curled up behind a single container. 

“This is 524-B, an Abyssus Unit, we were unable to defend the Frontline Enclosure! I repeat we were unable to defend the Frontline Enclosure!” She was sending a distress call to the Evangelist Federation, but she was receiving no response. 

Her heart was pounding. The Team that she’s been with for as long as she can remember met their ends. She felt queasy. Her pierced and shattered soul bore the torturing image of the ground, now painted red with blood. Just then another guy hopped over to where she was, tucked away behind a large container. The unit was shocked to see a golden haired individual here in the Enclosure with them. Especially in a time like this.

“A-an Intrinsic? W-what are you doing here?” She cried out in an unsure tone. 

The guy frantically looked about. He was hyperventilating. Once the Intrinsic caught his breath he spoke up. “Not another word from you, you filthy whore. I refuse to die in such a lowly place surrounded by you animals.” It was Dahlis Aerodos, although his outfit was all muddied and his military hat was gone. 

Not even a moment later and they both felt the air around them change. They both looked up to see the tentacle Abyssiti hovering directly above them. Both of their hearts dropped.

“Tch!” The girl, 524-B, hopped up and made a run for it, but Dahlis grabbed her by her vest and tossed her back towards the abnormal entity. She screamed as it’s shifting mass of black tendrils wrapped around her neck. 

“Gahh!! I refuse! To die here!” Cried out Dahlis as he made his great escape. He could hear the bones of the girl he sacrificed, crunching behind him, it brought him bliss to know she died instead of him. 

He ran for the nearest Housing unit with all of his might, however he tripped and fell hard onto his face.

“No... da-dammit.” He attempted to get up, but then he felt something touch his leg. 

It was sharp like glass and it began to engulf his entire leg, slowly crawling farther up. He looked down with absolutely horror in his eyes. The Tentacle Abyssiti had a hold of him and was slowly dragging back to the Container. 

“N-No! I can’t! I won’t! I should be within the walls of my nation! Not here in this damn sandbox! Gahhh!” He shouted while trying to fight against the grip of the Abyssiti. Next thing he knew Dahlis was looking at his severed left leg in another one of the entity's tendrils. Drenched in his own blood, He cried out in agonizing pain as he was torn apart, limb from limb, until silence. 

The horizon turned pastels of tangerine and indigo as the day came to a close, a calm washed over the wreckage as the Abyssiti left the perimeter of the Enclosure. Leaving behind the massacre. However the Rift didn’t stay silent for long. It began making strange static noises. Then it collapsed in on itself and closed. Completely vanishing into thin air.