Chap 200: Before We Kill Each Other

The five Sentinels stared down into a valley that looked pulled straight from a nightmare.

A low chorus of growls, screeches, and beating wings rose from the depths below like a living storm.

Before them stretched a massive valley, as if entire mountains had collapsed inward long ago. Jagged cliffs and broken ridges spiraled deep into the earth, where darkness swallowed most of the light.

At the very center far below floated a gigantic glowing forcefield orb.

Surrounding it were millions of monsters—the same vicious species they had encountered before, but in countless forms. Some crawled across the rocks, others slithered through the shadows, while winged variants circled in the dark air above.

Despite being apex predators, none of them attacked each other. Instead, they crowded around the orb in a restless mass, all of them focused on the same thing.

“Let’s go.” 

Tee took one step before the hard tug on her shoulder bade her from moving forward. 

“Are you crazy?” Kie thought. “We need a plan.”

“Now is a good time for a break,” Zod thought, stressing the word now. He got low and sat on the ground with his legs stretched out and let out a heavy sigh. 

Kie’s brows knitted so tight together as he looked at Zod. “What are you doing?”

Without looking at Kie, Zod spoke his mind. “Wat does it look like? I’m taking a break.” Then he looked at Kie. “Dude, did you forget I almost died back there? I need to reflect on my life here. Now is the perfect time. After seeing that valley down there of what we’re going to face, I’m sure it’s going to happen again.”

The sight of Miko, Saeda and Tee all taking their back packs off their backs that release with two clicks of a button at their waist, gave a clear signal. 

“Majority rules, it’s not personal,” Tee thought. 

Kie looked back down at the monster infested valley, and admitted they needed some time to think things through. 

“Fine, let’s take a break.”

They went back among the trees to stay hidden. 

After settling at a nice spot among the trees, Tee let her hair out and shook her head causing her hair to flap side to side and splashing water everywhere. 

“Still wet? How?”

“What’s wrong with this mad woman?” Zod thought after getting hit with water. 

“Hey watch it, Tee,” Miko said telepathically. 

Saeda in her monotone. “Great.”

Tee looked up between the white strands of her hair and apologised. “Opps, sorry.”

Zod, “Hey Kie, how about we stop talking in our minds for a while? It’s kind of annoying having you all talking in my head.”

“Sure,” Kie said. 

They gathered wood and built a small fire. Tee used her Ether energy to create a large force field around the area, leaving a hole at the top for the smoke to escape.

“How long can you keep up this force shield?” Kie asked, opening his backpack.

Tee thought for a moment. She could create a Seal so that once it was active, it wouldn’t go out until she dismissed it—but that would require tapping into her Verge.

“I can stay awake if you need to take a nap,” she teased. “Don’t worry about it.”

Kie hadn’t expected a teasing answer to his serious question. Sensing his tension, Tee softened her tone, aiming to reassure him.

“It’s fine. We’ll be fine.”

Her gentle, careful voice reminded him of his mother. He didn’t like the memories it stirred and looked away.

Tee’s mind drifted to what she would do once the mission was over. The cycle would finally end. No doubt her teammates would return to their normal lives after fulfilling their Mid-Guard duties.

But she would have the Omega stone. Once the elders used it to gather all fragments of the Alpha Seal and destroy it, it would all be hers. A tight knot formed in her throat as she considered the possibility of disaster. What if the Omega stone disappeared again—or was destroyed along with the Alpha Seal? That meant she would have to use it before anyone else got a chance. The cure was the priority. The Omega stone could always be retrieved if lost while the cure could not.

Feeling the weight of finally being free from the Xenogene, tears pricked her eyes. Once she was normal, she would have her entire life ahead of her. And what if Kie wanted her back? Would she let him? The thought of the two of them together—the adventures, the steamy nights—ignited a warmth inside her she couldn’t ignore.

Then her thoughts twisted darker. His ten children. The vision of a chaotic life filled with crying, hyperactive kids, stretched marks and drooping breasts, and tired nights made her stomach churn. She shuddered at the image, feeling both fear and nausea.

“Are you alright, Tee?” Miko asked, noticing her distant expression.

“Yeah.” Tee’s gaze drifted to the others, who were pulling crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows from their backpacks. “What the—” she blurted.

She realized how much she’d been missing out. Though it wasn’t iced coffee, her mouth watered. She had been so absorbed in working with Aven and Engel on the cure that she’d forgotten the simpler pleasures—like just eating.

She pulled out her odorless nutribar and hesitated, staring at the thick, pale block. Kie, however, wasn’t reaching for his s’mores. He was lost in thought, staring into the fire with that intense focus he always got when planning. Poor guy. Thank goodness she wasn’t the leader… or even half-leader.

Tee caught the object hurtling toward her face. She blinked and realized it was a marshmallow. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Zod.

“What? You looked hungry,” he said, shrugging.

Tee rolled her eyes. “Thanks,” she muttered.

She didn’t need to eat, but she didn’t mind treating her taste buds. Moments like these reminded her she was alive. With a small smirk, she tossed the odorless nutribar into the fire. The mini explosion that followed fogged their force field, enveloping them in a thick haze.

When the smoke cleared… silence fell. All eyes were on Tee.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

Zod’s voice was sharp. “Never do that again.”

Tee nodded, cheeks warm with shame, and unwrapped her marshmallow.

Conversation shifted as Zod tried to bring up how they should keep in touch after leaving Primus. The Commander’s earlier warning—that they were to forget each other—hung heavy in the air.

Tee smirked. “I don’t think that applies to me,” she joked. “I’ll be sticking around the Vergant village. The Commander isn’t getting rid of me that easily.”

Kie’s mind wandered. He realized he wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on Tee anymore, to prevent her from turning. But once he left Primus, that wouldn’t be his problem. He had his own life to live.

“We should probably act on our plan tonight,” Kie suggested, recalling Tee saying she could stay awake while the others rested. Tee instantly regretted ever opening her mouth to make that joke.

Tee ended up drifting into sleep, a dream of a beautiful future unfolding before her. A cure. The oppressed rising up. No longer treated like trash in society. Hope glimmered in every corner of her mind.

Then a hard tug on her shoulder yanked her from that vision. She woke up gasping, sweat clinging to her skin. Saeda’s eyes were the first she noticed, followed by the rest of the group surrounding her.

“What’s going on?” Tee asked, voice rough from sleep.

Saeda’s tone was urgent. “I had to wake us up before we started fighting each other to death.”

A tense silence followed, then she added, “My visions don’t lie.”

Tee immediately scanned the area with her foresight. There it was. A creature, massive and unnatural, its single eye locked on them with a chilling intensity.

“Something’s messing with our dreams… twisting them,” Saeda said. “And when we wake, we try to kill each other.”

Without hesitation, Tee fired a powerful Ether blast, striking the creature through the head. Smoke curled as it fell. “No more naps,” she muttered. Then, glancing at the dark sky, she added, “Kie, what’s our plan? We have the cure—I mean the Omega stone—to find.”

Kie ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not like we could walk across the sky like Ultramana. Our powers aren’t strong enough for that.”

“Plus, how do we get past the forcefield?” Zod asked, frowning.

Kie’s gaze met Tee’s. He remembered her telling him how she controlled her pet Patience during one of their night chats. She might be their ticket to the stone.

“I have a plan… though it’s a little crazy,” Kie said cautiously.

Tee didn’t look at him but allowed herself a small smile. “I like crazy.”

Kie continued, confident now. “Tee, your powers work fine here. You cloak us with an invisible forcefield so we can walk through them unnoticed.”

“And then?” Tee asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Then… you control one of the flying monsters,” Kie said.

Tee blinked rapidly, trying to process. She could only control mindless creatures, and doing so required sorcery. That meant opening her Verge—risking more attacks.

All eyes were on her. The weight of their trust pressed down, but the cure made the risk worth it. She steeled herself. She was stronger. She could reclaim her Verge and overcome any backlash.

With a deep breath, she visualized creating a Seal using her Ether prowess—taking back her Verge and cutting off any interference from future correspondence. Whatever happened, it would unfold in seconds in the conscious world, leaving the mission intact. Nothing could stand in the way of the cure.

Tee nodded firmly. “I can do that.”

Kie continued, voice steady. “While Tee pilots us to the orb, we’ll be the defense system.”

“Meaning?” Zod asked, suspicion in his voice.

Saeda’s expression was grim. “We fight off the entire sky of monsters coming at us.”

Miko gasped, eyes wide.

Zod’s voice rose, incredulous. “Not to mention… how are we getting through the orb barrier?”

Kie rose to his feet, chin high, unwavering. “We’ll figure that out on the way there.”

Zod sprang up after hearing that madness. “That’s your plan?”

Tee also stood, resolute. “We can’t keep waiting here. We need to move.”

Miko and Saeda quickly followed, securing their knapsacks.

Tee’s mind sharpened. It was time. Time to reclaim her Verge. That was the linchpin—without it, nothing else could happen. But with it… the mission, the cure, and their future were all within reach.

Sound was the first thing to go. The noise of battle, wind, voices—everything drops away as if someone suddenly tore the air out of the universe. In a split second the view of the monster infested valley disappeared. Then the ground beneath her feet fractures like cracked glass, the pieces drifting apart into an endless dark void.

Tee found herself surrounded by versions of herself once more, as if she picked up from where she left off. Hands pulled at her, voices screamed in her ear. Fragments of landscapes and memories that once floated around her were replaced with mad frightened glares. They surrounded her as if they planned to squish her to death. 

She made energy explode from her body, pushing her future selves away from her. She could finally think. 

Some versions flickered in and out as if they were battling with something external just to be in that realm. Some disappeared all together. 

“All is lost,” said one before vanishing into nothing. 

Without giving them time to attack once more, she stretched one hand out and though she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing, she knew being an Ether source, she had enough power to alter her Verge into what she wanted. She prevented any correspondence from the future and sealed it with a Seal. She saw the white glowing Seal next to her Balance Seal made of many intricate shapes, patterns and glyphs. The silence in her Verge meant it worked. 

She exited her Verge and made her next step in the material world. But her Verge was still open. Using her Ether powers, she created a large forceshield covering both herself and her teammates. Then she used sorcery to cloak it making everything on the inside appear invisible. 

They were careful as they began moving downward toward the valley, each step slow and deliberate. The slope was uneven, broken by jagged rocks and patches of loose gravel that threatened to slide beneath their boots if they shifted their weight the wrong way.

No one spoke.

They held their breaths without even realizing it, releasing them slowly and quietly as they walked. Every movement felt exaggerated in the silence between their heartbeats.

Below them, the valley churned with life.

Low growls rolled across the landscape like distant thunder. Screeches tore through the air now and then, followed by the heavy beating of wings somewhere in the darkness. Rocks shifted as massive bodies dragged themselves across the terrain. The ground itself seemed restless.

It was nerve-racking.

But strangely enough, the chaos worked in their favor.

The endless noise of the monsters—claws scraping stone, wings cutting the air, bodies colliding somewhere in the fog—covered the faint crunch of gravel beneath their boots. Even the occasional slip of a pebble down the slope disappeared into the valley’s constant roar.

For once, the monsters were too busy with themselves to notice the five intruders slowly creeping toward the outskirts of their territory.

Still, none of the Sentinels relaxed.

Every step deeper into the valley felt like walking through a minefield. One mistake, one sudden movement, and the entire swarm below could turn on them in an instant.

So they moved like shadows.

Slow.

Careful.

Steady breaths in.

Steady breaths out.

And all the while, the monstrous valley continued to breathe around them.

The darkness worked in their favour, but there was light from lines of lava and magma on the ground. A long tail slits through the fog created from heat, and hits into Tee’s forcefield. Tee was frightened and lost concentration causing her force shield to fall.  

One by one, the monsters began to notice.

First a single pair of eyes lifted from the darkness.

Then another.

Then dozens more.