The streets of Gimleh were as busy as always.

  Bin pulled the whole group along, holding Philip by the hand and leading them from one store to the next, proclaiming each of them as her favorite store in the whole city.

  “Are you sure you have time to come with us on a sightseeing trip like this, honey?” Ihasu asked Eik as they walked.

  Eik sighed. “Time is such an annoying word, you know? One only has so much of it every day, and yet I have to make more of it just to see my family. And I have enough stuff I have to do, that if I didn’t make time, I would realistically never see you ever again,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “But it’s fine for now. I’ve made a ton of pills already and I can feel my brain beginning to fry. Maybe it’s a little pathetic of me to say this, but I think I deserve to take at least a half day like this. Especially in dangerous times like these, we have to make sure to make time to relax, or we won’t be able to operate at a hundred percent when the time comes.”

  “Very poetic. And that’s not pathetic,” she said with a smile, squeezing his arm. “It sound like a wise way of thinking, if you ask me.”

  “Thanks, babe,” Eik answered, his attention drifting as something concerning caught his eye.

  Bin pulled the whole group along, holding Philip by the hand and leading them from one store to the next, proclaiming each of them as her favorite store in the whole city.

  “Hey, isn’t she a little too young to be holding a boy’s hand?” Eik hissed into Ihasu’s ear. “That could lead to all kinds of things!”

  She shot him a tired look. “And what, exactly, do you think an innocent little thing like that, between two children who aren’t even ten years old, is going to lead to, my sweet little man?”

  “I don’t know, what if she moves in with the guy?” Eik spluttered. Then the blood drained from his face as his stupid brain took the train of thought down even more ridiculous paths. “Wh-What if… What if they get married?” he lamented, holding back tears. “Ihasu, listen! What if they get married, huh?”

  She swallowed hard, doing everything she could to keep the expression on her face as neutral as possible. “N-No, no. They’re just holding hands, right? She wouldn’t… just because they’re…”

  “Stop freaking out already, the both of you,” Grandpa Gul muttered, kicking them both in the back of the knees. “You’re absolutely pathetic.”

  “Grandpa!” Ihasu hissed.

  “Yeah, come on, Clan Leader Gul. As far as I recall, you had an even harder time coming to grips with the fact that Ihasu was going out with me. I still swear I saw you crying when she moved in with me,” Eik said.

  The wrinkly bastard whipped a fist at Eik’s face but the S-ranked Earthling batted it away without any real difficulty. The impact of their extreme strength and speed sent a sudden gale wind sweeping across the street, buffeting trees and nearly toppling some people

  An aura-forged sound barrier rapidly erected kept the boom of the strike from shattering eardrums.

  “What an incredibly strong wind all of a sudden,” Rebecca said, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrowed her eyes against the dust and leaves blown into the air by the shock wave. “Does the weather often change so drastically on a dime in this world?”

  Instead of answering, Molanda directed them through the door of a store on the heels of Bin and Philip. “Let’s take a look inside, shall we? This place has the cutest designs. If you find something lovely for your own home, I’ll gift it to you,” she said with a smile, sending an extremely disapproving stare over her shoulder in Eik and Gul’s direction.

  Andihar patted Eik and Ihasu on the shoulders as he walked between them, briefly stopping before following his wife. “You will learn to live with it in time. It is the destiny of all daughters to, one day, grow independent from their parents. It is in that very fact that you must find… joy,” he said, turning to walk away as a single manly tear ripped itself free from his eye.

  Eik pulled a face. “Is that where I’m going to end up in a decade or two?”

  “Yes. And after that you will become like me,” Gul grumbled.

  “Oh… gods!” Eik groaned and followed the others.

  ***

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “So that’s how the glow stones work,” Philip Sr. muttered under his breath, fascination flowing through him as he took a closer look at the display item. It was laid in one of the centermost display cases, a well-polished dome placed over it. “I’ve always just written it off as yet another thing that just works by magic with no reasonable explanation rooted in nature.”

  “No, this is not a magical effect. I can’t pretend to know exactly how this stone develops this luminescent quality but I’m sure you could find out,” Eik said.

  “It seems to be… a lot more expensive than what we pay for them back in Forest though, if I’m understanding the conversion rate of the credits correctly.”

  Eik shrugged. “Well, I try to make it a little cheaper for the folks at home. We all deserve light in our homes, don’t you think?”

  Philip Sr. and Rebecca stared at him with sincerity. “Thank you.”

  They were in a furniture store down the street from Eik’s local plant pusher, Wanjihan. Gul had left for a while to take care of some business that had come up and Andihar had gotten hungry again and gone across the street to a food stall to get his big mitts on some post-lunch snackage.

  “Phil used to be an engineer back in the old world, although none of us got to keep our jobs for very long before it all happened,” Rebecca praised. “Graduated with one of the best averages in his whole year.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Eik asked. “That’s impressive as hell, dude!”

  Philip blushed. “Thanks, but when everything went to shit there wasn’t much use for it, so I make my living as a carpenter and leather worker now.”

  “Those aren’t bad profession at all, but if you’re interested, I’m sure I can find a use for someone with an engineering background.”

  The man’s eyes widened and his jaw fell open slightly at the unexpected offer. “Are you serious? We don’t even have electricity anymore.”

  “True, and there’s no denying that you would need a good bit of additional education before you could be of use, but I can take care of that as well. The basic knowledge and disciplines of engineering is great for many things in the Unified Mass as well.”

  “That would be…” Philip Sr. breathed. “I don’t even know what to say.”

  “I think a good thing to say would be ‘yes, please and thank you very much,’” his wife said with a grin.

  “Yes… Yes, please! And thank you very much!” Philip Sr. finally managed, blinking away moisture.

  “Eik, there’s something you should probably mention,” Ihasu broke in just as Eik realized the same thing.

  “Right, before you say yes, you should probably know that, depending on what kind of tasks you end up working with in the end, some or even most of your work could be here, in Gimleh.”

  The man took a trembling breath as the thought sunk in. He sent his wife an anxious smile. “Well, it doesn’t seem so bad now that we’re here, does it?” he mumbled.

  “Would we have to move here?” Rebecca asked.

  “Oh, no, of course not,” Eik assured her. “In fact, you would generally get to go home every night. I know how tough fracture travel is the first time, but by the fiftieth time, you will barely notice it.”

  “Fifty?” Rebecca gasped.

  Ihasu laughed. “You’ll be used to it before you know it, I promise.”

  “Speaking of things that could happen before we know it,” Eik said, peeking out through the store window. “I think Andi is about to empty out that store over there of all of their food, so how about we go to a café and the rest of us can get something nice to drink? I know a cozy little place just around the corner in one of the many parks.”

  “I want juice!” Bin squealed, charging through the door with Philip on her tail and leaping onto Andihar’s back as he was stuffing himself with various snacks and desserts.

  The park was pretty crowded with couples, friends, and families spending time together on blankets with food and drink brought from home or bought from one of the many establishments in the neighborhood, and games from various cultures played in the grass.

  The buzz of laughter and conversation gave the whole place a lovely mood that somehow managed to put fears of impending doom on the back burner. At least for a little bit,

  The people of Gimleh were a tough folk. Their resilience and ability to embrace the joys of life in the face of a cosmic threat were admirable. Although there was no doubt in Eik’s mind that there would be many, many people locked up indoors and awaiting the end with bone-chilling anxiety.

  With a direct view of the beautiful park, they claimed seats at the edge of the café’s terrace. While the adults hung out by the tables, the kids played in the grass.

  In the company of those he loved and surrounded by people enjoying a day in the sun, Eik still felt a pang of worry in his stomach. It had been a worryingly long time since anything of note had happened on the monster front.

  According to basically anybody he had talked to about it, this was extremely out of the ordinary and definitely a matter to be concerned about. But what could they really do even with that knowledge?

  There was no choice but to take more drastic mea—

  A distant scream ripped through the air, followed closely by a nauseating crack that slammed into them like the greatest of explosions.

  Immediately, Eik, Andihar, and Gul were on their feet, eyes searching for any indication of the source. Chop was still finishing his pastry. Living Manifestations were already collecting the children and bringing them back.

  Another squad of four swift Profound Toxic beasts zipped back toward the Earth fracture hall to ensure that nothing was happening on Earth as well. Two more shot toward the sound on blue wings.

  “What’s happening?” Rebecca gasped, hugging her son tightly.

  “I don’t know yet,” Eik admitted, keeping them all behind him with a hand gesture. “But sin—”

  Six more ear-splitting cracks rang through the air, jolting through their bodies as if the entire world was quaking. Powerful barriers shimmered into existence in response but it was too late.

  Eik’s Living Manifestations had still not made contact but there was no time to waste. “Andihar, Gul, please get everyone to safety. Gimleh is under attack.”

  “Dad…?” Bin asked with a trembling voice. Eik picked up her and Goo and hugged them tightly.

  “I’ll be fine. You go with mom and everybody else now, got it?” He embraced Ihasu and his father as well before turning toward the source of the cacophony.

  “Be careful, Eik,” Rasmus told him, worry painted on his face.

  Eik nodded, jaw tight as he started moving. “Chop, you’re with me."

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