July 24, 4021 07:50 [Manzhouli- Matriarch 04 Sun Rock]

Indra stopped to catch his breath, panting as he gathered his bearings. The trio had reached the entrance of Sun Rock, sprinting to the farthest edge of the Matriarch, across the residential district, to make it to the designated location on time. He took a moment to gawk at the expansive dome-shaped building he stood crouched in front of. An intricate carving on the front of the dome portrayed a regal-looking blue crane spreading its wings in front of a shining sun.

“Tired already?” Prasanna teased, slapping Indra on the back.

“We… ran… across… Matriarch. Should… have taken… tram,” he sputtered, still wheezing.

Prasanna laughed, slapping his back again. “Where’s the fun in that? Besides, everyone and their mother was taking the tram here. Given the rush, I’d say we would’ve been at least a good ten minutes late if we took that hunk of junk to Sun Rock.”

Emil shook his head, smiling. He signed to Indra, “She’s scared of public transportation.”

Prasanna shot Emil a dirty glance as Indra snickered.

“C’mon, we should get going. Tengri doesn’t like it when people show up late,” Prasanna said, helping Indra up.

The weary Homunculus sighed, stretching his legs as the trio entered the dome. To the immediate right of the entrance was a reception desk. Behind it, stood a gorgeous-looking man. He was tall and muscular, wearing a tight black t-shirt, his skin as pale as snow, and his straight mid-length hair as dark as night. Opalescent pearls hung from his ears, swaying in unison as he greeted them from behind the desk.

“Hey, how’s it going, friends? The name’s Jin! I don’t recognize your faces! Could you be new patrons, perhaps? I could set you up with one of our membership plans! Hmm, let’s see, a beginner's membership sounds good. Of course, I’ll even throw in a discount! We could start you off at a monthly premium of one hundred seeds,” stated the receptionist, gleefully.

Indra noticed Prasanna staring at the man, entranced. For some reason, this irked him.

He pulled his pockets inside out. “Sorry, I’m out of cash,” he stated dryly.

The receptionist’s face soured. “We’re not a charity. No money means no access to the facilities. Beat it, kids.”

“We were summoned here,” Indra pointed to his Nerve Cord.

Jin sighed in exasperation. “I see. More of you Homunculi from the other Matriarchs. You people keep congregating here like flies. I’m trying to run a business and instead, I’m left to babysit the underperformers. This is so typical of Kǔ Shén! He keeps dropping his trash here and, of course, that sadist keeps accepting you urchins instead of trying to draw in paying customers!” he complained.

Jin sighed again, resting his cheek on one hand. He pointed behind them to a small worn-out door. Prasanna thanked him, batting her eyes and waving goodbye as they left the lobby, entering a small corridor. At the end of the corridor, two heavyset doors lay open, leading into a large arena. The turf of the arena mimicked the vegetation of a grassland, tall sprouts of grass spanning the entire field. Notably, the elevation seemed to increase and plateau in certain sections of the field, the topography leaving Indra slightly puzzled. The area was packed with Homunculi, grim expressions on their faces, seemingly steeling themselves. The three made their way to the far end of the arena, searching for an open spot amongst the crowd. As they drew nearer to the farthest end, they could see a group of Homunculi, seemingly in better spirits than their cohorts, nervous excitement in the air.

“Alright, fun-size! We made it!” Prasanna exclaimed cheerfully.

“I already told you, my name is Indra, so why do you insist on using that nickname?” Indra asked, slightly incensed.

“Because it seems to push your buttons so well,” she snickered. “By the way, now that I’m getting a better look at your outfit, what were you thinking?”

“Ask the weirdo who designed it,” Indra stated, defeatedly.

“Well, I think it suits you perfectly,” Prasanna chuckled. She then pointed at him. “Enough about your fashion sense, you still haven’t told us what Matriarch you’re from.

“I’m from Matriarch 07,” Indra stated.

“Okay, we should do an official greeting then. I’ll start! Nice to meet you Indra from Matriarch 07,” Prasanna grinned, extending a hand.

Indra shook her hand. “Nice to meet you Prasanna from Matriarch…”

“Matriarch 05,” she stated, matter-of-factly.

Indra caught Emil’s gaze and nodded, the latter returning the greeting with a silent nod. He looked around at the surrounding Homunculi.

“So who are these guys? They seem a lot more cheerful than the rest of the Homunculi here,” he observed.

“These are all the Homunculi that arrived with us yesterday. The others are from Matriarchs 8 through 10. I think they arrived a couple of days before us. I’m pretty sure whatever’s bothering them has to do with Tengri,” Prasanna answered.

“Speaking of Tengri, you seemed pretty distraught by the announcement, yet you’re in such high spirits now that we’re here. What’s up with that?” Indra asked Prasanna.

She thought for a moment before answering. “Tengri is the weapons and combat specialist from our Matriarch. He’s extremely gifted at what he does and he revels at any opportunity to display his skills. Five successful tours of duty along the border haven’t broken him in the slightest; it seems like all that combat only sharpened him further. Despite all that, his tenacity is what got him recruited to Kǔ Shén’s Hyenas; he doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit’. He’s also an extremely difficult person to work with and his training isn’t for slouches.” Prasanna grinned, cracking her knuckles. “I was worried about seeing him again, but now that we’re here, I think Emil and I are going to enact some revenge on this bastard for what he put us through.”

Emil nodded, mirroring Prasanna’s wild fervor for battle.

As if on cue, a tall figure landed swiftly in the middle of the arena, kicking up a cloud of dust. From the center of the dust cloud emerged a man wearing a feathered cerulean cloak, the long fabric shrouding his body. He had messy shoulder-length hair that matched the color of his cloak. Brilliant blue amethysts were suspended from his ears. He cleared his throat, adjusting the aviator goggles hanging around his neck as he tested a microphone on the lapel of his cloak before addressing the crowd with tired eyes.

“Greetings, you miserable bunch. As most of you have been informed, the processing of Homunculi transported to Matriarch 04 is underway. However, given the sheer volume of Homunculi that are present, the completion of processing is going to take longer than initially estimated.”

A collective groan escaped from the crowd. The man continued his speech, ignoring the shouts of complaint.

“In the meantime, I will be overseeing your combat and weapons training. I know that most of you have had basic training of some sort and some of you have even been deployed into the field. However, none of you have had sufficient enough experience with combat based in war-like environments. That will be our objective in the upcoming months. We will be focusing on strengthening your Traits, handling weapons, and hand-to-hand combat, as well as communication, reconnaissance, and espionage,” he explained while fastening a Nerve Cord to his wrist. “With the impending war, we’ll need every able-bodied soldier to take up arms, including your sorry bunch, if we’re to stand a chance against Levante,” he finished.

The man proceeded to stretch, loosening his posture before surveying the collective within the stadium.

“I see some unfamiliar faces. I take it that you’re the latest batch of arrivals this evening. I don’t care to explain the rules every time Kǔ Shén drops another bunch of useless children at my doorstep, so watch your peers and learn,” he said.

Indra looked to Emil and Prasanna for answers, but the two were fixated on the cloaked man, looking eager to pounce on him. This must be Tengri. He turned his attention to the Homunculi from Matriarchs 8 through 10, noticing something peculiar about their demeanor. An air of tension ran through the arena like electricity. The Homunculi adjusted themselves into fighting stances. The defeated expressions that had plagued them just moments ago had completely vanished, replaced by determined faces and hints of, to Indra’s surprise, bloodlust. He shivered, chills running down his spine. What were these people preparing themselves for?

Tengri extended an arm, his palm open, facing upward. His other arm remained folded behind his back as he exhaled slowly.

“Let the slaughter begin.”