...In the end.

The next morning, Ash woke up—for the thousandth time. The emptiness still lingered in his mind. Finally having an excuse to get out of bed, he stepped outside and headed to the main hall, where only Neil was present, wearing an army green t-shirt, camo pants, and boots.

Neil turned to look at Ash. "Hey, cub, I was just about to get some training in," he said, hauling his massive frame up after tying his shoes. "Gotta keep in shape." Noting Ash's expression, he added, "Want to join me? Might help you forget about it."

Ash nodded. "Let me get my sneakers," he said, turning back to his room.

"Thanks. No one else is from remotely the same era as me, so it'd be hard to feel comfortable training with them," Neil said as Ash walked away, pausing.

"Yeah," Ash said, turning around after a bit of hesitation.

Neil stood there, watching him leave. She was right. This kid really needs our help.

When Ash returned, Neil held up a piece of paper. "Terrain forecast says it's gonna stay snowy for at least another two hours—just enough time to start. I already did mine... It's your turn."

"Start what?" Ash asked, confused.

"A simple bath before everything starts," Neil said casually. "Nothing as hard as my days in the Bastion."

The Bastion. The mercenary camp where Neil trained. A place of absolute hell. If Neil was basing this training on that… Ash suddenly had the urge to walk away.

"It's not that bad," Neil reassured.

It was that bad.

"T-this water is fucking fr-freezing!" Ash managed through chattering teeth.

Holding a massive block of ice and dumping it into the lake, Neil grinned. "Oh, come on. It's only two degrees."

"Two deg-degrees!?"

"Yes, two degrees." Neil repeated, "Ash keep up." He reprimanded, oblivious.

"Neil, w-would you mind talking to me before I d-die?"

Letting out a bellowing laugh, Neil stripped off his shirt and waded into the lake. "Let's talk about you," he said, eyes softening. "Are you alright?"

After a long silence, Ash muttered, "Never b-been b-better."

"That's not what I saw that day," Neil said, his voice quieter. "Even when Anita shut off your body, it was still writhing. Then you were about to cry. What does that to you?"

Ash sat there, teeth chattering violently. The moment would have been deep… if he weren't on the verge of hypothermia.

"Alright," Neil said, hauling Ash's comparatively small body out. "Let's get on our run." He tossed Ash a towel, then grabbed a bag from behind the trees in the snow-covered woodland. "You're new to this, so I started you off easy. A hundred kilograms."

Ash froze mid-towel, turning to face Neil with a look of absolute madness. "You're insane."

"Oh, come on. It's just a short run," Neil said with a grin, tossing the bag at Ash—who promptly collapsed under its weight. "Hurry the fuck up," Neil loomed over him.

"We're gonna play an old Bastion game I loved. Don't Stop."

An hour later, Ash understood what he meant.

Running with that weight for a mile was already hell. He nearly stopped for the fourth time—

BANG!

A blank fired at his feet, making him lurch forward. But he couldn't. It was like wading through molasses. His breath was dry. He tried to cough, but there was nothing in him to cough up.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The signal to stop. His legs gave out instantly. The cold tore into him, as if mocking him for being so weak. And he didn't even have the energy to care.

"For your first time, that was… alright."

"ALRIGHT!?" Ash spun around, indignant.

"You're right. Abysmal performance," Neil said, shaking his head.

"ABYSMAL!?"

"Ash, if you're just gonna repeat everything I say, you might as well have repeated my record from my first time playing this game—"

Ash nodded solemnly, as if realizing something. "I see it now…"

Neil smiled. "Wonderful! Now let's move on to—"

"No."

Neil blinked. "Why?" he asked, genuinely disappointed.

*I always thought demons were a myth. But standing here, crushed under this ungodly weight, I realized the truth—Neil wasn't human. He was a force of nature. An eldritch horror in camo pants.* He dumped the bag onto Neil, who barely budged.

"See—A DEMON, I SAY!" Ash managed to take a few steps before dramatically collapsing.

Neil chuckled. *Glad to see you're feeling better, my friend.*

A beat of silence.

"NEIL!" Ash shouted. "COME CARRY ME!"

Neil's grin widened. "Coming," he said, shaking his head as he strolled over. "Let's go." He picked up the limp Ash and carried him back to base. 

When they got back, everyone was sitting in their own little area, doing something by themselves, and eating breakfast, without Ash noticing, Neil gave a nod to Anita, who was sitting on the living room floor, drinking coffee and calibrating something on a technological screen in front of her, she stealthily nodded back and then stood up. 

"You guys, I think we should go to the trade center to get some extra assessories. I'm getting tired of my old clothes." 

"Which one," Ash asked 

"Urban area, there are stuff from all of our eras to buy over there." 

Everyone nodded in agreement. 

"Alright, when the late entries," she glanced at Neil and Ash jokingly, "are done, we can go. But for now, I'm going to share the budget." 

Everyone earns a certain amount of tokens by doing stuff, It can be fighting monsters, saving someone, or farming food. It's up to the conduits to receive the funds and share them. And Anita is their conduit, she was the only one qualified to do so without needing to alter a body part. 

She opened her screen and gave a general overview. "Alright so, this week we made 1.57 million tokens collectively. The majority of it was from the 16-hour expedition Ash, Luna and Jake went on the other day." 

"That's right." Luna said, leaning back "Ya'll are useless." 

"And even though that may be the case, our farms brought in *way* more than we need so, Thomas will go to Vulcan tomorrow to sell them. The expected cash yield is..." he tapped the screen, looking for it. "5.84 million, so we'll be set for quite a bit." 

Thomas sat up a bit straighter in his reading nook, his nose rising haughtily. at the prospect of making more money than *Luna*. 

"So we'll be going out to celebrate. Each of us would get a number hard for me to share so..." she got a notification, "I borrowed a bit more so we have 2.1 million now. We each get 350,000 tokens." 

Everyone clapped. None of them cared about the *planning* aspect of money, so they just thought whatever Anita says, goes. 

Ash finished the last bit of pancakes he had bought, so he was happy to get some more. 

"Alright, come for your bits." Anita said. "you know the drill." 

Everyone had their unique way of receiving tokens, like Luna with her phone, Neil with the identity card he got from his world, Jake used the screen on his glove, Thomas used an E-wallet and Ash would have used his screen... 

He started to feel off, then Anita squeezed his shoulder and handed him a classic wallet. "The places you shop at still accept cash." 

Ash smiled and took the All-black leather wallet, opening it, he saw a picture the group had taken with Luna's phone inside. 

"The first day we became a group." 

"Also the day we decided to never buy alcohol." 

"You guys gave me that shit when I was 12. Never again." 

Anita smiled "More importantly, it's the day you became *our* family. And don't you forget it," she said, ruffling his hair. 

Patting it down, Ash walked to the door and said, "Let's go"

Behind him, they all shared a smile and walked out with him. 

The terrain was that of a forest, which made the bunker they had hidden under a sheet of rock look in place, hiding it from anyone who didn't know what to look for. 

Anita took two steps and groaned, "No, just no. We're teleporting." she opened up her holographic screen, buying a transport token.

"Isn't that a bit wasteful, it's only a 30-minute walk at our slowest," Tomas interjected. 

"So what, we're rich baby." She smiled and tapped her screen as everyone else cheered. 

The urban area is the beginning's most popular trade center. It's one of the few places that never shifts terrains, known as a constant, and doesn't have an extreme climate, allowing for a lot of people to live there. It's a post-apocalyptic metropolis with nature reclaiming the space, every so often a building falls, but people are stronger than that. It's extremely popular, so the foot traffic made it into a stable trade district way before other constants- like Vulcan, a heat-stricken place -were found. 

Ash and his friends appeared in the urban area, glitching into view. 

"Been a good week, huh?" a gruff voice said. Jake, turning around smiled and walked up to Voss, the founder of *Broiler.* a very localized version of a beer drink that was popular in the steampunk dimension they came from. He was in his thirties, a bit of stubble and an eye patch, he wore a grey shirt with baggy brown trousers, partly showing off his fit physique. 

"Wait, we all meet up later to get some collective stuff for the base, so don't spend everything," Anita said, putting her deep grey puffer jacket over her blue blouse. "Remember to bring important shit." 

Everyone except Ash nodded, understanding the code. 

"The fuck-"Ash said, as they all went their separate ways. 

Turning to Ash, she said "Mind coming with me to buy stuff? You don't look like anything would pique your interest right now." 

"Alright," he said after a bit of hesitation, putting up his hoodie. 

After walking for a bit, they reached the edge of the city, and Ash started to feel uneasy. 

*Is this where she goes every time we come to the urban area-* 

"You're probably thinking I'm crazy. But it...comforting. To me at least." She said as if reading his mind. She pushed aside some vines blocking the entry to a tunnel leading into what used to be an underground parking garage 

"Come in." She tilted her head to the entrance. Walking in, Ash saw that different dim multi-colored lights were lined across the walls, there was fog and a faint smell of...*Something*. It was supposed to be welcoming, but he just thought it smelt weird.

"ANITA!" A voice sounded from inside "I CAN SMELL YOU FROM OVER HERE!" 

*offensive much.* Ash thought, but Anita seemed unfazed. 

"HEYYYYYYYYY!" she shouted in response, rushing into the main area. 

It was absolutely *random*. Random trinkets with random shelves with random arrangments. 

He kinda liked it. No one thing was in control. from an ancient genie lamp to a phone from 2077, anything and everything was there. 

"ROLAND!" she shouted to the woman standing behind the counter. 

"ANITA!" Roland shouted back, she looked African, with braided hair and beads in each braid. A tall, muscular guy with golden hair, stood up in excitement after hearing Anita. 

"Oh-yeah Anita," he pretended to look casual, leaning against a shelf. Casually of course. "What's up" 

She smiled normally."Hello Zion." 

As she was talking to the both of them, Ash wandered around playing with some stuff, he looked at a crystal ball, his reflection becoming distorted. That made him smile a bit. 

"Pretty cool, huh." Anita siad behind him. 

He turned around. "Yeah, I feel like I shouldn't touch it though," 

"Yeah, you're probably right." They moved around, watching the items on the shelves. 

She crouched to look at a holographic wilted plant. 

"You can't find stuff like this anywhere else," Ash said. 

"Yeah, like family," she said. 

"Really," Ash groaned "we're doing this right now." 

She got up and kicked his shin, making him wince in pain. 

Taking a deep breath and smoothing out her hair, she said calmly, "Yes, we are doing this right now" 

Going back to look at the plant, she said. "I mean that all of this," she gestured around, "are strange and belong with their place right." 

He nodded. 

"Yet they're here, and I'm loving them as they are." She stood up "Everything here is good together, even though they don't belong' together. Like us. *We're* good together. We're a family. No matter what happens to you," she rested one hand on his shoulder and used the other to take off his hoodie. "we'll always be here. Got it?" 

Ash smiled, "You guys are good at cheering me up." 

"Yeah, we are. ROLAND!" she shouted, killing the mood

"YEAH," Roland responded. 

"PACK THIS PLANT UP. I'M RICH BABY." 

He shook his head As Anita said goodbye to Roland and Zion. 

"Alright, so we're going to get some stuff to make you feel better, the group is already waiting, let's go." 

They made the trek back and, true to her word, the rest of the group were waiting at the place where they came from. 

Waving, Anita said."Neil," she noticed his frame first "Are the others with you." 

He gave a thumbs up. 

"Good, now let's begin" They met up with the group and Anita commenced their plan. "Operation C.A.T.F.U." 

Ash was confused "Wha-" 

"'Operation Cheer Ash The Fuck Up'," Thomas pretended to clean his new glasses whilst pretentiously waving them in Ash's face. Ash sighed. 

"Did you get new glasses?" 

"Oh, these old things," he said dramatically "I just picked them up." 

Jake appeared behind them, making them jump. They hadn't noticed him. 

"Here." he handed Ash a thin cylinder. Ash gasped. 

"I can't accept it. It's too precious to you." 

In the cylinder was a grape tea so pure, that you could get drunk of it if you left it long enough. 

Jake had been searching for it for years. 

"Thank you for handing me your prized possession." he raised it, there were very few leaves left, shuffling inside. Ash looked at him. 

Jake shrugged "I got peckish." 

Ash tried not to feel hurt"I guess you're serious about your teas." 

He gave a rare smile, "See," he patted his back, you get it. 

The group went to each of their favorite spots and gave Ash something they treasured very much. 

Luna gave him an mIphone 15 "It's pretty primitive in my world, but for you, it should be alright." 

"Are you sure, I know how you love to collect vintage phones?" 

She tried not to cry "I know." 

Thomas gave him a box, it had a silver frame but was made out of wood, it wasn't too thick and, felt...cold. 

"Silver seems to fit you," he said after Anita had to pry it from his hands. Thomas was a marksman and loved guns. In that box was the most legendary gun ever made. It was almost sentient and never missed. Thomas couldn't hold it directly, he wasn't chosen, And Ash wasn't either. But it was the meaning. 

"You guys, are giving too much." He said, knowing that they all had their own way of showing their love as he smiled for the thousandth time today. Suddenly, he didn't miss his companion as much anymore.

He managed to fit everything in his jacket pockets and was about to walk away, keeping the tears in his eyes- 

When Neil rested his hand on Ash's shoulder. "Wait a bit cub. Let me show you something." he pulled out a katana, with a silver hilt, but a black sheath. He handed it over to Ash "I made this myself. I dabble with forging a bit. I call this *Tsukishiro*- The moon's white shadow. I had to call in a favor with some really powerful drinking buddies to get the divine power to finish this. So don't waste it." 

Ash took it, feeling the sheath, It was soft like silk but as hard as steel. It also managed to render the sword invisible. 

"Soo, can anyone tell me what they're looking at," Luna interjected.

*That's pretty cool* 

"I want you to know that even when we're not here. You can protect yourself." 

Ash held it tighter. "Alright, thank-" 

Then, they heard it. All the little calming sounds that no one noticed, birds chirping, grass rustling, and the like, all came at once. 

They all groaned *He was here.* Aegis, the one who claimed to save them from their lives before giving them a new life here. 

Bullshit. Total bullshit. 

"That guy," Thomas said, his face scrunching up. 

"The only thing I like about him is his hair." 

Everyone else agreed, They didn't like him, but they weren't blind. 

They caught a glimpse of him, Long light blue hair and wearing a blue kimono, he strolled through the crowds, casually. Everyone admires him. 

"Hello you all." He managed to be heard by everyone without raising his voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to check on you all, clearly enjoying life as you prepare to fight the scoundrel, the god of chaos, The villainous-" 

His voice was swallowed, the usual background noise—footsteps, distant shouting, the hum of a broken city, even Aegis' sounds—had vanished. All that remained was the steady, obnoxious slurp of ramen broth. 

*Slurp*

Aegis' eye twitched. He knew that sound. 

*Slurp*

On the rubble of a fallen building, a man sat casually, chopsticks in one hand, ramen cup in the other. He didn't even glance their way, too busy tipping the container back to drain the last drops of broth.

Aegis exhaled sharply. "-Malakar." he finished.

The instant the name left his lips, he flicked a knife with impossible speed—

*Clink*

Malakar caught it. With his chopsticks. 

"Ooooooh," the group said in admiration. 

"I wish I could do that," Neil said. 

"Impressive accuracy," Thomas noted. 

"What's *His* number," Anita said, using her screen to zoom in.

Luna started filming, setting it as a benchmark for all her future boyfriends.

He held up a single finger with his free hand. "Shh. Give me a second."

He lifted the cup again, making sure to get every last drop. A satisfied sigh followed. Then, finally, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked up.

"You know, I've realized something." He stretched his arms, cracking his neck. "The way you say my name? Sounds like you're cursing." He made a vague, dismissive gesture. "Call me something nice. Like… I dunno. Denis."

"Denis?" Aegis spat.

"Denis," Malakar repeated, nodding as if pleased with himself.

Aegis' knife was still between his chopsticks. With a lazy flick, Malakar sent it flying back—

Shnk.

A thin red line appeared on Aegis' cheek. He stiffened. None of them had even seen the throw.

Malakar—or rather, Denis—grinned and grabbed another ramen cup. 

"You got a little something here." he pointed to the cut. 

Aegis covered it, and when he removed it, the blood was gold. 

*Why can't he just heal it instead.* Ash thought.

He pulled a kettle from somewhere beside him, pouring hot water inside without a care in the world.

"Alright, boys," he said, swirling the noodles. "Let's chat."