***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

I opened my eyes to the familiar scenery of a certain tropical island.

The sun hung low on the horizon next to the other island visible in the distance. A blue moon was touching the horizon to its left, creating a surreal and alien picture. A weak breeze came in from the sea, bringing the salty smell of the ocean with it.

Gaia had a favourite setting for meeting with us, but she was changing things up bit by bit. By now, I had a hard time comparing this dream with the island resort from my memories.

Astra moved closer to me from my right and poked her index finger into my cheek.

When I didn't react, she swirled it around tentatively.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Aw, I was just checking whether you are lucid or not.” She clicked her tongue. “Next time, I have to fall asleep faster.”

I raised an eyebrow and turned to face her. “What would you have done if I had been asleep?”

She smirked. “I still have to get back at you for groping me that one time.”

I mockingly bowed to her. “Feel free to grope anywhere you like, any time.” I spread my hands and hugged her, grabbing her ass and lifting her so she was level with me.

Astra rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry while she held onto my shoulders. “There’s no fun in it if you are so nonchalant about it.”

I shrugged. “It's not like we have something to hide.”

A shrill, joyous shriek and laughter from inside the bungalow drew our attention.

Astra extracted herself from my grasp and went to open the sliding door leading into the house.

Inside, we found Gaia on the floor, playing with Isaac among a mountain of children's toys. The whole room looked like a children’s toy store, spoiling the child rotten. Though, currently Isaac was having the time of his life with a set of building blocks which he was assembling into a quite intricate ship.

“Isaac?” I asked, bewildered by the boy's presence in the dream.

“Isn't he such a delightful child?” Gaia asked and pulled at Isaac's cheek. “You love your aunty Gaia don’t you?”

“Mom! Dad!” Isaac wasn't so easily swayed once he saw us. He got his feet and ran over, slamming into Astra's legs with a tackle hug. A moment later, he remembered to show off his ship and ran back to get it.

“There he goes.” Gaia sighed and got up. “Fickle is the heart of a child.”

“How?” Astra asked with a bewildered expression before she petted Isaac and praised him for his work while the boy pointed out various features of his ship like the retractable sails.

“I honestly have to say...” Gaia massaged her chin with a thoughtful expression. “I haven't a single clue.”

“You don't know?” I asked mockingly, not believing the avatar. If there was one thing I had learned since getting to know the Gestalt, it was that there was no such thing as not knowing for this entity. Whatever any human in existence knew, the Gestalt knew. It was more likely she just didn't want to tell us for whatever reason.

“You are doing it again, Magnus!” Gaia wagged a finger at me. “What did I do to earn so much distrust?”

“Stop looking into my head to start with!” I countered. “And sorry for doubting you. Didn't you have an ethereal hand in our kid's conception? I am still not entirely sure about us being experimented on.”

Gaia blinked, looking baffled for once. “You know I can’t ‘stop looking into your head’. I am a part of you and you are a part of me. We are linked. But if you truly want to, I could leave your mutations to chance...”

“No! No!” Astra kicked me in the shin, which didn't really hurt. “We appreciate you looking over us!”

I didn't comment, feeling like there was nothing I could say to make it any better.

Gaia nodded but gave us a lecture nonetheless. “If you would use those little brains of yours, you would remember how surprised I was about your newest mutation allowing you to be lucid during the dream and communicate with me. Do I have to repeat myself about the randomness of evolution?”

She tilted her head while she regarded Isaac. “The only thing I can say for sure is that the trait which allows you two to contact me is genetically inheritable. I wasn't sure, but I selected the gene sequence I assumed to be responsible and ensured it was passed down to your children. If your kids hadn't developed your ability, I would have known something else is responsible. But now we know. The trait I chose to pass down alters your brain chemistry slightly. I just can’t explain 'how' this gives you the ability to contact me.”

“Then we are in the same boat with the ‘not knowing’ part. I still don't know how I feel about being a guinea pig,” I groused unwilling to keep silent. The comment wasn't genuinely aimed at Gaia. I just wanted to vent.

“Let it be.” Astra sighed and picked up Isaac. “Gaia hasn't guided us wrong so far. I am willing to extend her a modicum of trust by now.”

The avatar touched her chest in feigned relief. “I am so glad that you two are willing to give me a chance after all this time together.”

Astra frowned in response. “I am not the one who will end up with her dream space overrun with countless people within a few generations.”

The avatar blinked. “Now, that could indeed be a problem. I shall hope there’s a way to split people into different dreams. Though it’s a possibility I was prepared for when I decided to take a more active role in the physical side of my existence. Maybe I could become a guiding spirit for all my children. A true deity!”

More like a haunting ghost.

Gaia deflated, having heard my errant thought. “Aw, come on. You know I don’t think of myself as a god. That was just a joke.”

“A bad one,” I added, ignoring the glare with which Astra tried her best to bore a hole through my temple.

“You mentioned something about taking a more interactive role with humans. Won't you get into trouble with the rest of the Gestalt? It sounds like a conflict of interest for you,” I said. “From what I gathered, the Gestalt is really big on non-interference. Or at least on using indirect methods. Though, I am not sure whether it simply had no other option till now.”

“No, no. You are right about the passiveness thing,” Gaia admitted and shrugged. “If I fall out of favour with the rest of the Gestalt, I will simply become my own entity. That's how it works when the Gestalt takes control of different planets. Tirnanog is in a unique situation because of the wormholes. The regular contact through the wormholes didn't allow the Gestalt to form an independent entity in this world. Without a wormhole, contact between planets is stunted due to the light-speed limitation at which information can travel. I would still have contact with the rest of the Gestalt, but information exchange would be slow, limiting the influence of Earth’s overmind.”

Gaia waved a hand dismissively and went to the sofa to sit down. “I am rambling. Let’s discuss matters you two can actually affect. I think it’s time to get another mutation.”

“I wanted to ask about this Zacharias fellow,” Astra commented while grasping empty air. “He was so strong. There was nothing I could do. The whole time it felt like he was toying with me.”

I nodded. “I hate to admit it, but it was no different for me. Are you sure we are on the right path Gaia?”

The avatar snorted. “You can’t expect to compete with a genetically optimized super-soldier. Not yet at least. To that end, I want to optimize your ability to store energy. Your physiques are already pretty good at creating and handling power on the principle of an electromagnetic charge. Your muscles are essentially highly effective supercapacitors. Unfortunately, your body size is limited and with it the amount of power you can store. We can’t put a fusion reactor in there, so the only solution is optimization and an external aide.”

I frowned. “Why would our body size be limited? I mean, I wouldn’t want to turn into some monster, but some of the mutations people have are so far out of the box for me… becoming a little bigger doesn’t sound like an impossible feat.”

“You are already larger than an average human. There is simply a point at which size is more of an inconvenience than helpful.” Once again, the avatar wagged a finger at me. “Besides, I already spent a lot of effort on optimizing all those chemical and biological processes inside you. I don’t want to turn my creations into beasts. The Gestalt already tried to go big with the Neanderthals and it didn’t work out. No, what I am aiming for with you is augmentation. Something which you already discovered to some extent on your own. You will travel to the large lake which is fed by the sanguine river, south of Hochberg. In there lives a creature which is called a thunder eel. It will provide your next evolution.”

Gaia continued to explain how she intended to use the thunder eel’s extraordinary ability to store power via electrochemical processes. Lastly, she dropped a hint about how a certain lightning-elk’s core might be used and adapted as a transportable power backpack.

The idea of controlling the biomechanical features of Tirnanog’s creatures intrigued me. Given time and finding the right cores, Astra and I could build and improve upon our armour, making it a part of us.

The only thing holding us back so far was the problematic nature of finding out how to control cores. Getting a working prototype wouldn’t be easy, but the concept had limitless potential.

Sadly, I wasn’t exactly enthused about hunting down a thunder eel. According to Gaia, a Hochberg elder had taken the mutation some centuries ago and used the resulting mutation to great effect. The creature wasn’t widely known, since it lived only in the deepest parts of the lake – which meant we had to go for a swim.

A dangerous affair, but possible thanks to us being able to breathe underwater.

***Tirnanog, Steppes***

***Mary***

I yawned and blinked, looking up at the starry night sky. Beneath me, the drake’s back moved sinuously as it propelled itself forward at maximum speed. The drake rider I was flying with reached once more for my shoulder and pinched it.

“Ancient Mary? I think we found them!” The voice would have been hard to understand if not for one of my mutations enhancing my hearing.

I reached up and unbuckled the harness I had strapped myself down with so I wouldn’t fall off while I slept. Then I got up and turned around while holding onto one of Split’s back spikes. Split was one of the largest females we could find for the mission. While male drakes were generally fast on short distances, the females could outpace them when it came to endurance. Hence, the task force relied on females to hunt down the Thich who had abducted Gurney.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “It would be bad to strike some random patrol. If they have a means of communication, they could warn others in the area and destroy our chances of finding the target.”

“We can’t guarantee it,” the rider admitted. “It’s too dark to tell for certain. But one of the sensors assured us that the number of ships is correct. She also reported some damage which matches with the escaped vessels. I believe it is the best shot we can get. The drakes are tired, but right now we might be able to make a run for it if we attack. Another day of flying and we won’t be able to make a clean getaway for sure.”

I drew in a deep breath through my nose and slowly let it out while the wind pelted against my face.

Three days of non-stop flying had worn out the task force. If we decided to attack and it turned out to be a random patrol it might be all for nought. On the other hand, coming across a group of Thich airships in the dark was a unique chance. We might be able to take them with minimal losses compared to when they saw us coming during the day.

In the end, I could only trust the rider who knew the drakes best. If he said a clean escape would be impossible with further searching, then the choice was clear.

I gave the order. “Commence.”