S-Secrets of the Universe? Haha!

Loud clanking noises echoed around the cave system, and if you listened close enough, you could hear a conversation between two people. One of them spoke in a robotic tone, while the other cheerily replied.

"Master, all the remaining Tako have been exterminated." The robotic voice said

"Anything useful?" The cheerful voice responded as if mechanically, their attention seemed to be focused on something else.

"The cores have been extracted, purity levels rage from 20-25 percent." With no change in emotion, the robotic voice continued. "The ones that remained were low-tier, if we are to obtain a higher purity core, I suggest we move."

"I need to finish this, we can leave in a Joi[1]." The cheerful voice responded.

"Master, you've been in seclusion for two Hietz[2], and according to your work pace, completion should only take a Jai[3]."

"…"

"I will begin the preparations for departure immediately, after you finish, please rest." The robotic voice said, before walking away.

The cheery voice stayed silent before going back to work.

***

Alex opened her eyes groggily, she was laying on the hard concrete, but a blanket had been placed over her.

She remembered falling asleep to Josh singing, it was a warm feeling. Even though she had slept fine yesterday, it didn't mean she was used to it, in fact she hated it. If not for her brother she would have already gone insane from loneliness.

Unlike the last time she woke up, the sound of chatting greeted her instead.

"By the way, who are you guys?" Caron spoke.

"What? Didn't we tell you yesterday?" Josh tried to remember.

"No, you guys just appeared out of nowhere, I forgot to ask." Caron shook his head.

"Oh, then my name is Joshua, you can call me Josh." He then pointed at Ana, who was awake, still laying down. "She's A-Ms. Ana, you don't need to call her that, she just doesn't like me." Josh sighed dramatically, wiping a non-existent tear.

"Are you famous or something?" Caron looked at him curiously.

"No, but a lot of people tell me I should be an actor."

"Wow! You look like a celebrity!" Caron looked surprised, Josh looked like an idol.

Hearing this, Alex looked at Josh. When they had first met, she was still trying to recover from the trauma of almost dying. But now she could clearly see what her brother was talking about. He was quite handsome… Ahem! Her brother is the cutest though!

"Your sister is awake by the way." Josh pointed at her, Ana also glanced at her before looking back up.

"Alex!" Caron said happily before hugging her.

"Haha, I'm awake, yeah." Alex said, still trying to completely wake herself up.

Now that she though about it, didn't Caron say he had something to talk about? They were so tired when they came back, as soon as they hit the bed, no ground, they were already sleeping like the dead.

"Didn't you say you had something to talk about?" Alex looked at Caron, who was hugging her.

Caron went silent for a moment before going back to his spot.

"Yeah…" He seemed to be hesitating.

"I actually met something, or someone…" He shivered just thinking about it.

"Monster?" Alex said.

"I don't know, but it seemed to be something that can bring back bad memories." Caron said, "It looked just like me, and it told me it was just my imagination."

Alex looked at him wide eyed. Her brother met such a thing? If Josh and Ms. Ana had not arrived on time…

"How could you tell it wasn't just you imagining things?" Ana asked.

Caron looked at Ana, "I noticed every time it spoke, I could hear the echoes and vibrations from it's voice.", "It also made sounds every time it took a step."

Ana looked at Caron silently, there seemed to be shock hidden in her eyes.

"And you figured that out, all while it was in front of you?"

"The thing is, I first though it was my imagination. So I wasn't as scared as I should have been. I only started to notice things when it walked around and laughed. If I knew it was something dangerous beforehand, I would have panicked." Caron sighed in relief, thanking his past self for being so ignorant.

"Smart kid aren't you?" Ana chuckled.

"But uh, do you know what that was?" Caron looked at her expecting for her to know.

Ana shook her head, "There are so many different type of gates, and so many different worlds. We probably haven't even scratched the surface of the origin of these things."

"Gates?" Alex asked, confused at what they were talking about.

Josh looked at Ana with serious eyes.

"Like the gates from those fantasy stories?"

"Something like that actually exists?"

"Can you do magic??"

Alex barraged them with questions, Caron also looked at them with expectations.

Ana began to to sweat heavily, was she allowed to tell civilians these things?

'Shit, if this isn't allowed them I'm screwed. Donma's gonna kill me.'

Ana was about to speak, but Josh spoke instead, "There's a lot to explain, but I'll tell you this for now…"

"Things are changing, not only in this world. But the universe is changing, I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but right now we have to live with it."

Alex and Caron looked at him.

"W-We're not gonna die right?" Caron looked at him in fear while holding his head.

"Die? Right now you have us to protect you, but we can't shield you forever." Josh smiled sadly.

"Well, I already know that, but I'm not gonna die from knowing about… The universe and stuff…" Caron gripped his head, as if waiting to go insane.

One of his friends was interested in myths, and he told him that if he was to know the secrets of the universe… He might kill himself!

Well, that's was what he was able to figure out from his friend's ranting. If monsters and gates now existed, what says that Cthulhu doesn't exist too? Was he just a character in a dream??!!

Josh stared at Caron before bursting out in laughter. Ana also began to laugh too, tears were streaming down both their eyes from laughing so much.

"Ahahahaha!!! W-Ahahaha!" Both of them tried to speak, but they were laughing so much they could barely even get a word out.

Caron looked at them in confusion, why were they laughing at him? Alex also stared at them, trying to figure out what they thought was so funny.

"Secrets?! S-Secrets of the-" Josh attempted to speak, but broke out laughing even harder than before.

It was a lively morning for the group of four, laughter filled the tiny cave. Alex probably won't have to worry about being lonely with her friends around.

Yup! Ana and Josh officially count as friends, they not only saved her life and gave her food, but they were also really nice! How could she not think of them as friends?

She hopes that this moment would last just a little bit longer…

[1]: A 'Joi' is like a week, for us it would be 4 weekdays and 3 weekends. Pronounced: [JOY]

[2]: 'Hiet' is a year, for us it's 10 months, or 304 days. 'Hietz' is the plural for years. Pronounced:[HA-E-T] or plural, [HA-E-TS].

[3]: 'Jai' is a day, it's still 24 hours. Pronounced: [HA-E].