[Continent Tylion - Country Iristia - City Kiphis - Arthur Denyel Hospital]

[Maximus POV]

The cool refreshing feeling of the liquid simulated Maximus’ back, like a line of ice was placed upon his spine. Maximus was lying on his belly wearing a hospital gown inside a room all alone comforted by the smell of medicine and alcohol with the busy sounds of doctors echoing behind the doors.

Swish. The doctor that operated on Maximus came into the room holding a folder. He sat on the wooden stool beside the bed and opened his file reading it before placing it on the coffee table and asking,

“How are you feeling?”

A grunt was heard as Maximus is still recovering as he responds,“Not bad, my back feels really cold though”

“Do you notice any pains, aches, or sores throughout your body?”

“None at all”

“Well it seems like everything is fine. Looking at your tests I’ll discharge you in a few hours. The bill has been email to you, pay within 24 hours and I’ll keep silent”

“Don’t worry about the money, How much time has passed since you poured the fluid in?”

“Around 8 hours”

“Let me rest for another 4”

“mhmm” the doctor nodded in affirmation before taking his leave.

As the doctor took his leave I closed my eyes to feel any difference and I could feel a small spark of white light. I tried to focus on the white light before it suddenly disappeared. I sighed in disappointment before falling back to sleep in exhaustion as the focus onto the white light took mental drain.

[Continent: Sicily Archipelago - Country: Ayrum - City: Kiphis - University of Kiphis]

[Cecilia’s Perspective]

Dark, humid, airy and dry. Those were the 4 words I would choose to describe my current predicament. After I breathed in the anesthesia the next thing I realized was that I was in a cold dark room with the professor sleeping in a corner. He clearly was tired from the operation as the sunlight shone in through the slits of the barely closed window. The windows were almost shut and the door was locked, I checked the clock on the wall to realize that 10 hours have passed since I fell asleep. “That makes it 2 hours left” Closing my eyes I tried to notice any changes in my body only to find that there was a small white light and beyond that light felt like a vast wide swath of information.

Ugh. A numbing headache striked my brain as I tried to reach closer to that city but it felt like there was a vast insurmountable gap that separated me and that point of light. Giving up that fleeting light I passed out in exhaustion because reaching that light was mentally tiring. I fell back asleep as the hot and humid room made my eyes drowsy and my body tired.

[Planet: Earth - Continent: Asia - Country: China - City: Beijing - Katarina’s Mansion]

[Katarina’s POV]

The summer heat warmed the house up to a humid temperate and laser like rays of sunshine shone through the large windows of the mansion into the living room. Katarina was sitting on her couch with a glass of coffee in her hand slowly sipping from the cup to savour the taste of her favorite coffee. A Starbucks Frappe Caramel Macchiato with Extra Whip and an extra cup of vanilla, the coffee was cold which was a perfect compliment to the warm weather of the summer heat.

In front of her was an expensive oak coffee table. It was carved from a single piece of oak and shipped as a custom order for Katarina as she loved nature and art with an obvious bias towards spiders. Lining up behind Katarina was her spider collection which displayed dead specimens of spiders gathered across the globe beautifully displayed behind a glass wall with their names, descriptions and lethality labeled on the bottom of each one.

She was wearing a gray bathrobe and her hair was slightly wet as she just came out of the showers drying her hair. Her long brown hair glistened in the sunshine as it was tied up in a bun, her focus was on the laptop in front of her as she was currently facetiming someone. A European boy who had the eyes that made it feel like he was an existence beyond the imaginations of mortals. He was Grishika, the Administrator, the controller of timelines and distroter of dimensions, one who wasn’t bound to the limits of time.

“She’ll be the arbiter of the mission and the meetings. She will only be directly involved under the pretense of helping another agent in low-priority tasks such as delivering packages, messages, and aligning events. Once she has proven capable I will trust her with more responsibilities, she will start at an entry position and will be rewarded accordingly. If she refuses then you can erase her memory. That’s all.” The boy was emotionless and stated everything as a matter of fact.

“I’ll tell her once she wakes up”

The boy suddenly passed out as Grishika stopped using the boy as a temporary host. Katarina looked at the boy in pity because he’ll probably lose part of his memory and suffer from mild paranoia as a result. A mild side effect of being Grishika’s host. Katarina hung up the call and went into deep thought about how she’ll tell Ashley about everything.

Looking up at her spider collection she was stuck deliberating her choices, she was going to tell Ashley about her true form as a Xylian Arachne but she struggled to find the right words to explain everything to her. Personally Katarina wished that Ashley could live a normal, healthy life but she was worried that she might have to drag her own adopted daughter into this mess. She had her doubts about whether or not this was the right choice but if her future self was telling her present self that Ashley needed to go on this mission then there’s probably a strong reason why.

Creak. The door from Ashley’s room opened up and a tired, disheveled Ashley came out of the door. Her hair was as messy as a bird’s nest and her eyes had heavy bags because Ashley woke up many times during the night in fear. The fear that there exists a being who was more powerful than anything she ever knew made her anxious and uneasy.

“Heyy Ash” Katarina tried to cheer Ashley up, “I’ve got you your favorite starbucks coffee! A Hazelnut Frappuccino with extra caramel and less sugar and less ice just how you like it”.

Ashley ignored the coffee and hugged Katarina before falling back asleep in the arms of someone who she trusts and is comfortable with. In the arms of Katarina Ashley didn’t have to fear the monster she met because she knew that Katarina would protect her. Katarina smiled knowing that Ashley loved her, and in a similar fashion she loved her back. Katarina grew deeply affectionate for Ashley because she’s the closest thing Katarina had to a family. In the Xylian language her affection meant, “Dystere” a loving companionship worthy of sacrifice.

She didn’t plan on losing her Dystere, but she knew that if the future version of her wanted Ashley to know the hidden parts of her life there was probably a really solid reason why. Future Katarina knew her better than herself, so she decided to trust in future Katarina rather than her present self.

She wanted to spoil herself a bit though and let Ashley rest on her chest before she told her about everything. Knowing her responsibilities she took out her phone and called her secretary, “I have familial business to take care of, I’ll send you my input on today’s meeting and email that to everyone present in each meeting. Tell my vice-president to take over the lead today, I’ll come in tomorrow” before she hung up her phone and sent her files.

Afternoon came and the sun was directly above the house. Ashley felt the sun rays directly hit her face before she started to wake up.

“Ughh, ahh!!” She shrieked in embarrassment as she accidentally drooled on her sister’s bathrobe out of carelessness.

“..mmm” Katarina began to wake up in response to the shriek, and to her surprise her eyes met with an embarrassed Ashley who was still figuring out how she would explain herself. Katarina could feel the anxiety from her and she slowly pulled her closer giggle,

“Do you think I don’t know you drooled on me, hehe. There’s no need to worry”

Ashley promptly wiped her drool wishing that Katarina wouldn’t see the embarrassing deed that just happened

“I-I’m not worried about anything. Rather don’t you have work?”

“Well I’m worried about you so I took a day off. It’s my company anyways” she responded with a smirk

“Grrr… Fair enough, but at least wear something”

Katarina noticed that she was still in her bathrobe wearing her underwear underneath.

“Hehe, You still can’t get used to my work attire?”

“That’s not your work attire!!”

“It’s the attire I use when I work from home, therefore, work attire” Katarina responded with a smirk

Dumbfounded Ashley failed to find the proper response before simply giving up and marching to the kitchen for brunch as her stomach began to protest for food.

“Do you want anything for brunch?’

“I’m good with anything”

“Alright, I’ll cook scrambled eggs”

“Wait not scrambled, I had that yesterday”

“But you just said anything!”

“Yeah anything except scrambled eggs”

“Then Fried Rice?”

“That does sound good”

“Give me a moment, I haven’t cooked in a really long time so if it’s bad don’t blame me”

“Sure, if it’s bad we can just order food”

“Wait, did you already order the food?” Ashley noticed that Katarina had her phone out

“Nah that’s a waste of money. Your food is always the most delicious” Katarina responded with a bright cheery smile slowly hiding her phone.

Katarina began to change into another bathrobe as the smell of the delicious fried rice cooked in the kitchen. The house began to smell like Ashley’s homemade fried rice, with the chopping of vegetables echoing inside the house and the sizzling of rice that came along with it. As Katarina came out of her room as she finished changing her bathrobes she was greeted to the sight of two steaming plates of fried rice. Ashley called out of the kitchen,

“I’m going to go take a shower really quickly so help yourself first” Ashley took the towel from her room and started to enter the bathroom.

“I’ll add a bit of seasoning to the food while you’re gone”

“Sure”

Of course this wasn’t going to be any normal seasoning, this was a relaxing type of agent I’ve had to cultivate from the venom from precious spiders I raised. This venom was from an Iotriopa Spider from my home planet I had to secretly raise, their venom was known to be one called the “Sleeping Beauty” because it put people to a relaxed, non-guarded state. It was the Suitsu civilization’s equivalent to alcohol but it made people more relaxed instead of the agitated state that alcohol could put people in.

Ashley soon came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapping her black hair and a towel to cover the rest.

“What? You haven’t eaten yet?” she asked curiously

“I’m waiting for you, duh”

“I’ll come down in a moment”

“The food is getting cold”

Ashley changed into her typical t-shirt and short pants. Ashley came downstairs to the dinner table and met Katarina who was waiting by the fried rice.

“Thanks for cooking the food Ash!”

“My pleasure Kat”

They both ate the food and as Katarina began to pick up the cleaned plates she asked a question,

“Remember how you said you wanted to know everything about my past?”

“Well, what is it?”

“If you choose to know there’s no going back, this is the only place where you can decide to choose to back out. I won’t force you to make any decision but once you know about my past you can’t turn back.”

Ashley’s face was in a state of shock as if everything suddenly fit together. Clink. The fork she was holding dropped in shock as she slowly asked, “Are you a drug dealer?”

“PFTTT. No, I am not a drug dealer honey. How did you even come up with that idea?”

“Well the only way for everything to make sense yesterday was the use of psychedelics.”

“No, yesterday was as real as it can get.”

“So you’re actually a part of a secret organization with super powerful beings?”

“That’s a secret” Katarina teased with a finger on her lips

“So you are part of a secret organization!!” Ashley responded in excitement “Tell me all about it”

“Once you know about it, there’s no going back...and I’m serious about this. Knowing this information will take away the chance of living a normal life. I love you, and I care for you, so I want you to make this decision. Your life will change once I tell you everything, but I’m giving you a chance to live a normal life. Your memory will be erased and you’ll live a normal life. But if you choose to know about my past your life will be irrevocably different from any other person and you are bound by the code of secrecy. It’s exciting and fun, but incredibly dangerous as well. The risk of death is real and the closest I can get to resurrection is uploading your memories and I don’t want that.”

Ashley was brought back to reality once she realizes the impact that her action can have for the rest of her life. This wasn’t a dream where you can become a member and become a hero, heck, Ashley barely knew anything about this organization.

“Can I ask questions about it?”

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll answer all your questions honey, but I’ll try my best. I want the best for you but sometimes it’s best to not know certain things”