Dorian's Message

"So, Elysia," Shien smiled. "How do you feel now?"

"I never shared my life story like this before," Elysia leaned on the lake's railing. "My caretaker, Master Fermato, was the only one who knew."

"Do you feel free?"

"Y-yes."

"Now you see why we wanted you to share your story?"

"I guess."

"So, from what I got, your family was enslaved by the Russian High Envoy. Your parents sacrificed themselves to sneak you out. Those events led you to hook up with the Waxing Sickle to cure that loneliness. Tastidios and his lackeys asked you to kill those kids, and you did because you feared being expelled."

Elysia hugged herself. "Shien, I wish I could go back in time and undo what I did. Those kids would be alive if I didn't make that bad choice."

"I know, but it's past. You killed those kids to be accepted in a family. It's something that's not easily forgiven, and I can't imagine what it's like for you to have guilt for something like that. But I think there are two lessons I can tell you to help you change and make better choices in the future."

"Okay."

"One. Tastidios and his thugs accepted you as part of their group if you did what they asked. Good friends don't put a price on friendship. It's important to surround yourself with the right people. Friends who both genuinely care for you and do the right thing. I know it sucks to be lonely, but it's better to be alone than to hang out with people who hurt you or others."

Elysia nodded.

"Second. Never let a group's will override your decision to do the right thing. Just because everyone else does something doesn't mean it's correct. You should be your judge instead of blindly following a group."

"Those lessons mean a lot. Only if someone told them to me earlier in my life."

"I understand you didn't have anyone to tell you that, but hey! I'm telling you now! Calice told me they're important aspects young people like us should be aware of. Because we don't like to be alone, we try to hook ourselves up with a group as fast as possible, even if it's a bad group. She said teens would join bullies and participate in their bullying activities to feel accepted."

"That's terrible, and I made that mistake. By the way, who's Calice?"

"She's another friend of ours. Calice is a social worker. She's great at helping young adults live healthy social lives and cope with stuff like this!"

"Wow, she must be very smart. I'd love to meet her sometime."

"I think you two would get along!" Shien smiled.

"I concur, Elysia," Phoenicia nodded. "Both you and Calice would agree that Shien is short!"

"What did you just say?"

"I believe you were hearing things."

"Come here, you tin can!"

"I find that quite slanderous, shortie!"

The two stood in front of each other, head to head.

"This is your 27th attempt to hopelessly challenge my height," Phoenicia smiled.

Elysia placed her hand on her mouth, trying to hold her laughter as her eyeballs moved up and down to see the obvious height difference between the two.

"Is it me?" Shien looked at Elysia. "Or do I sense eyes measuring my height?"

"It's logical to say that everyone measures your quaint height with their sense of sight!" Phoenicia giggled.

"Care to say that again, you metal girl?"

"Shien! Look!" Phoenicia pointed to the sky. "A bird!"

"A bird? A bird!" Shien turned his head to the sky with excitement. "Where's the cute puffy?"

Phoenicia gave Shien a noogie.

"He fell for that?" Elysia's jaw dropped.

"Wow, that was easy!" Phoenicia winked. "Didn't I tell you to never lay eyes away from your enemies?"

"You said there was a bird!"

Elysia laughed as she felt free from her past for the first time. "Thank you all for being my first real friends."

"No problem, Elysia!" Shien hugged her.

"Ah! My eccentric people!" The three heard a voice. "There you all are! You dare to leave us from a heartwarming hug party?"

"Enshiron? What's up?"

Naivern and Ritom walked behind Enshiron.

"Sup, pals?" Naivern smiled. "Having a party without me?"

"How did you find us?" Shien asked.

"Ah, chillax," Ritom spun in front. "We happened to run into my Ruddigus pal and his old geezer back there. They updated us."

"Yeah, and mohawk man wanted to choke you first for cheating," Naivern stuck her tongue out.

"Shhh!"

"You all should've seen that old man play whack a Ritom with his cane!"

"You're ruining my moment, Loud Girl!"

"Guys, Elysia is our new friend!" Shien announced.

"And the audience applauses in awe of Elysia's grand entrance to the stage!" Enshiron bowed.

"Hey, Elysia," Ritom shook hands with her. "I'm Ritom! Everyone's favorite mechanic!"

"Elysia, nice to meet you," Elysia smiled.

"You okay? We were concerned about you back there at the bistro."

"Yes, I'm better. Shien and Phoenicia helped me. Thank you."

"Great! Remember," Ritom poked Elysia's arm. "If you need a mechanic, give me a call! Chillax, and let me do the work!"

"Uh, okay?" Elysia saw Ritom raising his eyebrows as he leaned on her.

"Ritom," Phoenicia said. "Your flirting methods require significant improvement."

"Come on, Phoenicia. I'm improving every day!" Ritom elbowed the android.

"Ahrem, now that our gang is officially back together," Enshiron cleared his throat. "May I ask what we should do since an invasion is coming to America? Along with the fact that we're sitting ducks in a game?"

"Shoot!" Shien scrolled through his menu. "Mom! How could I forget?"

He selected his mom's contact only to receive static.

"Mom! Are you there?" Shien shouted.

"We tried to call my older brother too," Ritom added. "But nothing. Looks like all UICA products are down."

"No, it can't be. Please be safe, Mom. I love you so much."

Elysia looked at Shien and felt compassion that she never felt before for a human. When Naivern and Ritom hugged Shien, Elysia knelt and wiped his tears with the handkerchief Shien gave her. The Vulpi girl never did anything like this for a human, but for the first time, she placed the difference aside.

"Hey, I'm sure your mom's okay. We are in this together. You said that's what friends are for, right?" Elysia patted Shien's head.

"Yeah," Shien nodded. "I hope so."

Phoenicia's two antenna hairs stood on their ends with rapid vibration.

"Yo, Phoenicia?" Naivern asked. "You good?"

"I'm detecting a fragmented message," The android blinked.

"Message?" Shien stood next to Phoenicia. "From who?"

"I recognize this style of code. I infer this is being sent via Dorian's computer."

"Dorian?" The friends exclaimed.

"Who's that?" Elysia asked.

"Oh, she's another friend of ours. Dorian is our computer tech genius," Shien told her.

Phoenicia's pupils changed into blue circular loading symbols. "Processing and organizing fragments."

The gang patiently waited as Phoenicia took a minute to decipher the message.

"Well?" Ritom tapped his foot.

"Based on Dorian's code, she wants all players to meet the UICA Commander at the Saberdome Arena."

"The UICA's helping us!" Ritom clapped his hands. "Told you, guys. I knew they weren't behind the Cybertrap! Fanghui is a liar."

Shien stretched his arms. "I think so too. Mom wouldn't allow the UICA to do such a thing either."

"So Fanghui wants people to think the UICA is the bad guy," Naivern huffed. "Talk about a dirty trick."

"Perhaps, we'll find some fruitful answers if we meet the UICA Commander at the Saberdome Arena," Enshiron wagged his tail.

"It's worth a shot," Shien nodded. "We can trust Dorian. Let's go!"

The group left the Tyrminal Lake and walked across the streets of Tetrachrome toward the Saberdome Arena located at the opposite end of the city.

"Don't fret, for we happy few walk through the valley of fire-breathing dragons as awesome heroes on a breathtaking quest!" Enshiron comforted the friends. "The knights in shining armor and wondrous damsels of glowing beauty shall vanquish the very darkness! Onward, my fellow companions!"