The Glade

"We're almost there." Harper announced. As they had been traveling, the forest had started getting much brighter, with multiple different colors of flowers dotted around. The amount of greenery was more lush, and there were multiple plants that Miracle didn't even recognize. Harper smiled at the group's wonder. "I'm guessing this is your first time here…?"

"Yeah… it is…." Pedro stayed pretty quiet, looking around the place. "I bet my sisters would like this place. Most of them like flowers, anyways."

"It's so pretty!" Miracle exclaimed, whipping her head around. "I never knew a place could look like this!"

"Hmph! It's okay…." Victoria grumbled.

"Vicky, don't be like that." Harper sighed, still smiling a little. "I can tell you like it too."

Victoria went silent, crossing her arms and looking away. They continued walking in awe, as Harper continued to lead them around. They eventually reached a small clearing, a crystal blue lake glistening in the middle. Harper looked at it with a confused expression. "Weird… Asa's typically hanging around here." She stepped forwards, looking around the lake. "Someone's been here recently…."

"Was it Asa?" Miracle asked, coming up next to her.

Harper shook her head. "No. It was someone else." She stood up, looking around. Her expression was slightly worried, as she went searching for her friend. "Where could she be…?"

"Do you think something may have happened to her?" Scarlet asked.

"It… could be possible. I've heard that people have been coming here for resources, recently." Harper started. "It could be that she got… caught…." She hastily shook her head. "No, she wouldn't get caught. Asa isn't that kind of person."

There was an uneasy silence, the only thing being heard was the shifting of grass. Miracle glanced around, trying to see if she could spot anything. She gave up quickly, realizing she had no clue what Asa looked like. Miracle sighed, looking back at Harper. "Do you know what could have happened?" Miracle asked.

Harper shook her head, ever increasing worry appearing on her face. "No… I don't…." She went silent, thinking for a moment. "Actually… I may have an idea. Some people know about The Glade, and as you've seen there are a lot of rare materials. Some that you can't find anywhere else but here." Harper sighed, sitting down and staring into the lake. "Asa's had to deal with people who try to rob this place of its resources… so she could be dealing with that at the moment."

"That would make sense." Bartholomew nodded. "She is a very busy person."

"Hm…." Pedro hummed. "Well then, let's-" A rustling sound occurred. Everyone immediately went silent, directing their attention towards where the sound came from. "Did you all hear that?" He whispered.

Victoria narrowed her eyes, pulling her gun out and attaching a couple parts to it. Miracle recognized it as the sniper. "What the fuck are you all doing? Get your weapons out, we don't know who it is!" She hissed.

The others complied, bringing out their weapons. There was more rustling, as a group of about five people walked through. The two groups made eye contact, coming to a stalemate. Nothing was said, for a few long and agonizing seconds. One of the men in the group across from them glanced back at the other four, before sighing and turning to the eight in front of them. "Who are you all?"

"We could ask the same." Harper replied immediately. "How do you happen to know of this place? Do you know Asa?"

"'Asa'?" One of them perked up, giving them a confused look. "Who's that?"

Harper went silent, frowning at that question. "So you don't…." She paused for a moment, slowly turning to Victoria. Victoria glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. Harper nodded her head, turning back towards the others. "Attack."

And just like that, things went loose. Victoria immediately pulled the trigger, as multiple beams of lights shot towards the intruders. They seemed to panic, however dodging all of her shots. Scarlet ran forwards, rolling across the ground and stabbing her knife into one of their thighs. She stood up, retreating as Pedro stepped forwards and punched that same person in the face.

One of them raised a sword of their own, swinging it at Pedro. He blocked the blow with his arm, the blade not doing much damage to his scales. He threw his attacker off of him, pulling Scarlet away from the group. "What the hell?!" One of them shouted. "What are you all doing?!"

"You came here to steal the resources, didn't you?" Harper asked. "Considering how you didn't know Asa, I'm taking it that I'm correct."

"Yeah, so what?" Another one grumbled. "Weren't you doing the same?"

Harper sighed. "No. If you all know better, you should leave. You're not winning something like this, eight against five. Plus, even if it was an even amount of people, you'd still lose."

They all looked at her angrily, seeming to not realize just exactly they were dealing with. Naomi sighed, shuffling around in her cloak. "Hold on… I can convince them…." She muttered, finally pulling out her wand. "And… woosh." As she said that, fire appeared around them, flinging around wildly. The other group panicked, as Bubble was jeering at them.

"Yeah, that's right! If you don't get out, Naomi will light you on fire!" She shouted, giving them a determined look. They didn't appear to hear her, focusing more on the fire than any of the other eight.

Naomi frowned. "If they were smart they'd realize this was an illusion, not actual fire." She said simply, sticking her hands into the flames. "It's not even hot. If I was to actually use fire, I'd burn this entire place to the ground… I don't want to do that to Asa…."

Suddenly, a large cracking sound went off. Naomi flinched, seeming to not have expected that. The sound seemed to knock the group of five out of their previous panic, into a brand new panic instead. A newcomer pushed through the trees, towering over the group of five. Miracle was surprised at their height, clearly breaking eight feet. He had shot, dark brown hair, Along with that, he had dark brown eyes, wearing a simple shirt and pants. Without introduction, he immediately knocked out the group of five with ease.

Harper blinked, a little surprised at the sudden action. There was silence again, as Naomi made the fire disappear. The newcomer glanced at them, before a smile appeared on their face. "Hello! Are you with these five?"

Miracle quickly shook her head. "N-No, we're not. These five came here, and were wanting to steal stuff from this place."

Harper nodded. "We were simply trying to stop them from doing anything."

"Oh! Okay!" The stranger said with a smile. "Anyways, my name is Brock! Nice to meet you all!" They all introduced themselves as well, getting a little more comfortable.

"So anyways, Brock, do you happen to know Asa?" Harper ended up asking after they had shared their names.

"Oh! Yes!" Brock nodded his head. "I'm her friend! I don't know where she is right now, but she is somewhere!" He looked around curiously. "She told me she needed to deal with something…."

Harper shrugged a little, looking around as well. "Probably something similar to these guys."

As if to answer her question, another small group of people came running into the clearing, before they fell over unconscious. "Yeah, that's what you get for coming in here!" A voice declared. "I'm so sick of all these people coming here and stealing all of my stuff!"

Harper turned towards the voice with a smile. "Hey, Asa."

"Hm? Oh Harper!" The voice responded again. "Nice to see you here again! What's the situation?" Miracle looked around, trying to spot where the voice was coming from. Harper glanced at her, sighing slightly.

"Asa's right there." She said, pointing in front of her. Miracle looked at where she was pointing, finally spotting Asa. She was incredibly small, having dark hair wrapped up into a braid. There were a small pair of glasses on her face, highlighting her dark brown eyes. A dress that resembled something like a water lily was her article of clothing.

"Haha, are you surprised?" Asa asked, smiling. "I'm a Fairy, I'm pretty tiny, to be honest. Like, I mean, I'm supposed to be pretty powerful, but God said no, and made me be two inches tall." She flew a little closer to Miracle's face. "So, who are you? I'm assuming your one of Harper's friends."

Miracle nodded, stepping back a little. "U-Um, yes! My name's Miracle, I'm the Godslayer."

"Godslayer?" Asa repeated. "That's… interesting." She tapped her lip, crossing her arms over each other. "If you are the Godslayer… Harper, why are you helping her?"

Harper gave her a confused glance. "What do you mean…?"

"It's clear Miracle's going to kill 'God'." Asa explained. "Isn't she, like, your friend?"

There was silence at that statement, as Harper seemed to get more uncomfortable. Asa seemed to develop the same amount of discomfort, avoiding everyone's eyes. The group stood there, when finally Scarlet spoke up.

"'She'...?"

Asa blinked, seeming to be confused at that question. "Huh? What do you mean? God is-"

"A he." Harper cut her off.

Asa hesitated at that statement, glancing at Harper. "What? But I was so sure that she was a girl…." Asa muttered. "Was she trans the entire time? Oh are you serious why do people have to change their names please it's already hard enough to remember one name…."

Harper sighed, a slightly nervous smile appearing on her face. "I'm sure you'll get used to it eventually…."

Asa shrugged. "I don't know, man." She then cleared her throat, shaking her head. "Anyways, I'm sure you all met Brock here. He's a giant. Well, a small giant."

Brock nodded his head. "Yes! I was lost, and found Asa! She decided to take care of me, and now us two are friends!"

Asa glanced at him, frowning slightly. "That's not the entire story."

Brock blinked, before he laughed awkwardly. "Oops… I kinda forgot…."

Asa sighed, crossing her arms again. "I guess I should have expected that… well anyways! Back to the subject at hand!" She turned towards the group of adventurers. "So, I'm assuming you all came here for a reason!"

Pedro nodded in response. "Yeah, we wanted to ask you if you could help us go against Fabian."

"Fabian?" Asa asked. "Oh, wait, no I got it. That's God." She hummed in thought, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the sky. "Let's see… why are you going after her- I mean him? What happened?"

"Do you not know?" Scarlet cut in. "He's been going around destroying stuff for no reason."

"Really? That doesn't sound like him." Asa admitted, placing her hands on her hips. "Do you know the reason?"

"No, I don't." Harper admitted. "But, he seems very dead set on continuing. He said it himself… that's he's enjoying this…."

Asa frowned at that comment, narrowing her eyes slightly. "What the fuck, who is this person? She, I mean, he sounds nothing like what I knew about him before." Asa sighed, before she nodded her head. "Yeah, y'know what, sure. I'll come, I need to know what the hell happened. And also get revenge for making me like two inches tall."

Harper snorted slightly, smiling at that comment. "Well, I know you're taller than that."

"Still doesn't mean I appreciate being this short!" Asa complained. "Compared to Brock, at least!"

"Speaking of, Brock, would you like to help us as well?" Harper asked, turning towards the giant.

"Sure!" Brock nodded, a bright smile on his face. "I'd be glad to help!"

Asa frowned slightly. "Actually, hold on a minute. How am I supposed to protect this place? If you couldn't tell by these people," She referred to the people passed out on the ground. "There are a lot of people who come here to steal materials and kill rare animals. If I'm not here, well…."

Naomi raised her hand. "I have a solution…." She started. "I can cast a spell that makes it impossible for people to enter… it's not very subtle, but it'll work…."

"Really?" Asa asked, a small smile on her face. "It doesn't matter if it's subtle or not. Just having it would be nice."

Naomi nodded, smiling back. "We should get going then… if I cast it now we won't be able to leave…."

"Alright then!" Asa flew past them, going to the lake and splashing water onto her face. "Let's go! Lead the way."

Harper nodded, turning around and walking away from the clearing. The rest of their newfound group followed after, slight excitement filling most of them. They were getting closer to assembling a super group to defeat Fabian. It wouldn't be long until they would have their confrontation.

Asa flew next to Harper, giving her a slightly suspicious glance. "Is God really a guy?"

Harper nodded. "He is."

They went silent, as Asa placed herself in deep thought. She narrowed her eyes a little, before shaking her head and flying away from Harper. Harper frowned slightly, sighing and rubbing at her eyes. C'mon, Fabian… how long are you going to keep doing this? I know you wouldn't… even if the world betrayed you again….

"What's the reason…?" She whispered to herself. "Why are you doing this…?"

Fabian sat in the clouds staring at the sky, when he suddenly sneezed. He laughed a little, rubbing at his eyes. "Someone's talking about me…." He muttered, shaking his head. "Oh well, I guess that makes sense. People hate me, anyways."

Matias frowned at him. "Hey, I don't."

"I don't either." Lucas grumbled.

"I know that!' Fabian laughed again. "You're acting like I said everyone hated me. I said 'people'. That doesn't exactly refer to everyone on the planet."

"Well, I mean, I just wanted to make sure that you knew that…." Matias mumbled, looking away from Fabian.

"Hehehe, you're acting all embarrassed~! Do you secretly like me or something?" Fabian teased.

"S-Shut up." Matias shot back.

"Okay." Fabian stood up with a stretch, letting out a satisfied sigh after he was done. "Well, I'm gonna go to bed. If anything happens, wake me up."

"You're going to be?" Lucas asked. "Wow, this is the most amount of sleep I've ever seen you get."

Fabian shrugged, a smile on his face. "What can I say? Stressing about the end of the world causes me to be sleepy." It was a lie, quite definitely. He wasn't tired in the slightest, he just needed some time.

"I guess that makes sense." Matias shrugged. "Okay then, have a good rest."

"Thanks, Maimai!" Fabian waved at the two. "I'll see ya later! Goodnight!" He immediately ran off, a smile on his face. "Just you wait, Hydema…. I'll keep being the bad guy, just to stop you."