Careful Not To Break Reality

The Bounty Hunter's Guild in the wild regions operates on the very simple principle of taking whatever requests that come their way. The central Guild is located within the Black Pegasus region, though many smaller substations where bounty can be handed in and accepted are located all through the near by regions. The nearest one to where Zel was staying on is only about two days of travel at high speeds.

He has taken everything that RG wanted him to take, and he finally left the planet in peace knowing that he has finally reunited with his adopted mother, and they even fought side by side against a formidable foe such as Sir Deva. She has always been working to protect him, despite not really knowing that he was who he was. She had an instinct, and she simply acted on it selflessly. There can be no stronger feeling than love, and knowing that she has always loved him gave Zel a feeling he has never had before.

He felt happy.

With the credits that she has earned in various jobs throughout the years, Zel can really free himself from the lingering thought of being chased down by a bored bounty hunter, however, that would mean the end of his 'contract' with the artifact. Since the very beginning, he has promised that when he is finally free, he will go to a planet near the edge of known space, and set them both free.

He can't do that just yet. And the artifact knew that too.

Zel spun around in his chair and looked at the box of credits secured in the corner of the c.o.c.kpit and lingered his thoughts on it. He knew what he had to do. That may not be what RG would have wanted, but that is what he would have wanted.

The remainder of the journey went by rather quickly just as he would expect, and he took the box of credits along with it as it boarded the substation. Everything and everywhere is fair game in the wild regions for Bounty Hunter's guild, though the only exceptions are the substations. There can be no hunting occurring in the substations. Though to prevent anyone for staying in there long term and hogging away, there is extremely limited options for supplies and fuel, so realistically there is a certain maximum amount of time one can stay there before they ran out of food and have to make a run for it.

The station is of a standard design, and it's actually quite empty at this time, with the small bar by the food printer being the only place with more than one being near by. The rows of chairs in the central opening are completely empty, and all Zel could hear in the entire station are his own footsteps.

He has the mask on from the Spotlight just like the others, and he just went straight to the point without any deviation in his paths. Few other bounty hunters looked up at him as he went past for an instant before returning to devour the unseasoned powdery food from the partially broken food printer. Bounty Hunter's don't exactly have the best life.

The processing window was manned by a droid at this time, and it raises its head and looked at Zel as he approaches.

'State your purpose.' The droid asked.

'I am here to pay up a bounty.' Zel said.

'You?' The droid said with a preprogrammed harsh tone. Despite their efforts, multiple other guilds have forced the Bounty Hunter's guild into accepting the clauses of being able to pay up your bounty and get you names off the list, though this is not how the guild leaders wanted, that's the only the other guild won't declare war on them. It is not their preferred means of doing business, but it is a business nonetheless, 'find the name.'

A holographic panel is propped up in front of him, and Zel started searching through it. By filtering the list of names by the amount of bounties and the specified species to enhanced humans (cyborgs), the list shortened to only about a thousand names long. By selecting the bounties to the range between four hundred and five hundred thousand credits, there actually only remained two.

Z. Frin and R. Ghost.

A grin crept up Zel's face, perhaps it's something to be proud of, that he has a higher bounty than RG? He doesn't typically consider bounties to be a measure of self worth more than that's how much somebody want him dead, or in this case wants his artifact. It is nice to know that somebody wants him though, in a strange way.

'I will pay up for the remaining bounty for R. Ghost.' Zel said.

'Put the money through.' The droid ordered, and Zel moved aside and pushed the box full of credits onto the conveyor belt. He kept the fifty thousand credits spare, and perhaps he can use that money to do some modifications on his ship later down the line.

The procedure was extremely quick and simply, almost to the point of being anticlimatic. But with that, the name of the Rogue Ghost will be cleared. She is free, in an official sense. There are many reasons why Zel didn't pay up his very own bounty, but really, he just wanted to earn his freedom with his own hands, and not let someone else's hard work be the reason that he is truly free. Perhaps RG would think that's stupid, but also be proud of him at the same time.

Now that all of this is over and Zel finally had closure on the matters of his past, it's time to check up on the bearers and see how they are doing at this very moment. He returned to the ship as it undocks the substation and enters the communications code given to him by Cellica Uleric, the officer working in the GBI from the bearers.

There was no connection established that are stable enough for a visual call, but it seems that he would at least be able to leave a message. Knowing that, Zel typed in a short one and sent it off:

'My matter in the wild region is settled, and I am awaiting your instructions.'

Meanwhile, the battle that was started by Zel and RG has been long finished. There were more than a few dozens of people that wanted a piece from Sir Deva, and it actually took him hours to take all of the annoying Aquarians and angry humans out. He is exhausted, some of his bones broken and his enhancements on his skin pierced through in multiple places, but he stood tall among the piles of corpses in the end.

Blood stained the glorious carpets at the Spotlight, and the station may never be the same anymore.

He lost the thief, however, and the most slippery artifact user was able to get away. That's wasn't the only ship that escapes when Sir Deva was cutting through the crowds of beings, and he doubt the same tactics of ship tracking would work a second time. He has every reason to believe that Zel was with him on his way here, as he felt a constant sense of unease when he was on his ship, as if someone is watching him from afar at every moment. That feeling went away the moment he stepped onto the Spotlight though.

If that's the case, then Zel would at least relay the information onwards to RG, meaning ship tracking wouldn't be the most useful techniques from now on.

He stepped over broken limbs of a few Aquarians for the last time and finally went into the clear. Blood stained and absolute stinking, he returned to the space port and took the shuttle back to his ship. Near the magnetic dock of his sh.i.p.s are another shuttle and it lit up when he approaches. The droid manning the ship then sent a transmission to his ship and said that the shuttle is carrying all of the winning bids he obtained from the Arena of Gods.

To be honest, Sir Deva almost forgot about all of them, but he acknowledged the droids and his ship connected with the shuttle. The doors slid open, and twenty or so disfigured beings from all three species stepped out one by one gingerly. They are shivering because of the cold and the shock, and the fear of unknown certainly doesn't help either.

As the shuttle disconnected from his ship, Sir Deva finally waved a hand and them and instructed, 'come with me to the main hall.'

All of them followed him, and Sir Deva pointed towards two machines situated at the back, 'the black one on the left are fabricators for clothing, and the one on the right are food printers. Go make yourself some clothes and food. You have thirty minutes. You are not slaves here under my watch, but I expect you all to take initiatives for your lives. The power is in your hands, take it.'

After the simple instructions, he turned around and prepared the ship for take off and sets the destination to be heading straight back to Absolute Academy back in the Grey Wolf's region. This was a somewhat sucessful mission, as far as getting the energy core back. The Spotlight neatly packaged the device and delivered it to his ship while he was wrecking havoc in order to track down Zel and the thief. He dialed into the communication line all the way back to the Academy and waited for a response.

Lady Lily's image came on not too long after, it seems like it happens to be the day time over there.

'Have you completed the mission, Sir Deva?'

'Yes, Lady Lily, the energy core is back in my hands.' Sir Deva stared at the half body hologram of Lady Lily, her beauty still shines through the millions of miles of transmission, 'though I could not capture the thief.'

'That is only the secondary objectives here.'

'Zel was here too, and he was with the thief.' Sir Deva said, his voice low and tired, 'though I failed to capture him.'

'Well, that can't be helped.' Lady Lily said with a light shrug of her shoulders, 'his artifact's powers are very effective against yours....Are you okay? You appeared tired?'

Sir Deva's heart jumped up by the caring words of Lady Lily, though he maintained his composure.

'There were a lot of fighting.' Sir Deva said, letting out a long breath and really tried to relax his whole body.

'Then you must have loved it.' Lady Lily smiled.

'To an extent.' Sir Deva thought back to the absolute slug fest and shook his head, 'anyway, there is another matter. I may have found another group of dedicated recruits. They were almost sold as slaved, but I bought all of them instead. All of them have experienced hardship and abuse through the years, and I believe at least a few of them will rise through the ranks and be very useful to the organization.'

'Oh?' Lady Lily said interestingly, 'that could be something. I always need a few that can use the pseudo's around here.'

'Precisely. I am returning to the Academy right now.'

'I see. Come quickly.' Lady Lily gave him a flirtatious wink and shuts off the communication.

Sir Deva stood up from the seat in his c.o.c.kpit and returned to the main hall, by the time he is back in it, all twenty of them have already made some clothes and some food and were all sitting together and eating. There were two that figured out the machines while the rest simply lined up after one another and went around the room. They stepped aside and all turned to look at Sir Deva as he stepped in the room.

He nodded approvingly at the quick and efficient self organization of the groups and opened up when all the eyes are on him, 'My name is Sir Deva, and I will be giving you a chance to gain power and control back into your lives.

'I work for an organization named the Absolute Being. We are made for the sole purpose of preparing for a war that will inevitably come and put the entire galaxy in turmoil. Each and every one of us is training to become a stronger versions of ourselves day by day, and you will all be entered into our Academy very soon.

'Your food , education and accommodation will be guaranteed, but in return I expect effort and determination. I see potential from many to rise up from your previous situations and become something great, so don't make me disappointed.'

Then, Sir Deva pulled up a hologram of his ship and showed the layout before highlighting a few more areas, which are the group sleeping area, the toilets and showers and even the exercise area. He explained what each of that represents, and left them to their own devices.

Their lives will become a lot more complicated from now on, but they will have security, safety and purpose. From the multitude of looks in their eyes, Sir Deva knew that they would become a great asset for them, perhaps even in the upcoming war as he says. Who knows what the future will hold?

Months went by and all of those that Sir Deva bought from the Spotlight have finally settled into the Absolute Academy in a special area. They have gotten into a daily routine at the academy and friendship groups formed as well as romantic interests. They were looking on as the Valerie sisters made their escape with Rydel, fully unaware of the implications of the events occurring.

A few of them stopped in their tracks and looked on as the house Valerie used to live in collapsed into a pile of rubble and their classmates hushed them along.

Their story are just beginning, but let's continue on with those in the current timeline.

Zel is in the same ship that RG once possessed, and he named it the Rogue Ghost, for obvious reasons. They are now finally arriving in the galactic capital, the key planets for the three civilizations to reconvene, the planet of billions of beings, and yet the mega-structures in this system is much more than just a planet.

The planetoid itself is a rocky planet that's been fully terraformed into a city planet all the way around, then gigantic orbital rings were built around the planets as the middle layer with space elevators connecting between the surface and the lower space. Even higher in the orbits are fleets of O'neil cylinders (giant rotating space station habitats). A sea of slightly smaller space station are even higher outside. The traffic control for the capital have already gotten in touch with Zel, and assigned them a space station to park in.

This is the galactic capital, the Olympus Zero.

Zel allowed the traffic control artificial intelligence to take over the piloting of the ship as he quickly went over to the main hall of the Rogue Ghost and looked at the magnificence of science, technology and engineering through the giant windows there. The fleets of shuttles are travelling in and out of the planets as mirror arrays placed around the planet collects lights from the local sun and beamed in concentrated light columns down onto the power stations located down on the surface.

'This is....' None of them right here have ever thought that this is what the three races are capable of if they work together in harmony. As the ship approached the planet even closer, they can clearly see districts underneath that are all divided into a variety of areas and purposes, but before they can feast their eyes further, a space station moved into the view and blocked the window. Then, the Rogue Ghost shook slightly and were locked into place before a shuttle came and connected to the ship.

'Alright, let's go down!' Rydel said excitedly, 'I can't wait to visit the science museum there!'

'Are you sure there is one?' Valerie said skeptically.

'Oh come on... It's a planet of this size...'

Right as Rydel, Zel and Valeries are acting like tourists on Olympus Zero, Cellica has finally gotten off shift from the GBI headquarters, located on a classified artificial planet located in a stable orbit between the regions under the control of both human and Aquarian space. She cracks her back back and forth as she walked towards her accommodation in the forest area. Supposedly nature can be rather soothing and pressure reliefing, but the artificiality of everything around her just makes her feel more uneasy by the second.

I really need to do some yoga. Cellica thought to herself, but now it's time to practice her skills with the artifacts, just so she will always be ready when accidents arrives. The skills of using the artifact is really just like any skill in life, if you don't practice it, you will lose it. As she began to extend out her visions from hundreds of meters to miles and miles, something strange was occurring.

There are a few reasons why she can spot Rydel when he activated his very own artifact at that time. Whenver an artifact is activated, the fabric of reality were tugged on gently like a rain drop into a calm lake. The very ripple is then seen by Cellica when she activates her artifact at the right time.

One can say that it's fate when Cellica is pracaticing her own artifact when Rydel were in the cave and freaking out about the weird glove that's attached to his body.

And now it seemed like fate is on their side once again.

The images of the stars in her jaded green eyes were tugged on rather tightly as they go back and forth. The ripples traveled outwards as it spread all the way out to the limits of her eye sight, near the edge of the settled regions. She turned her head back and focused hard, trying to trace back to the origin of this ripple. She has done this many times before, and as all of the others are training on the combat aspects of the artifacts, she was the one practicing with it's utility based powers.

She is slightly rusty and careless with the Eyes after a long day of work, but she finally saw it. The subsequent slight ripples that came from further use of the artifact generates much smaller but still visible ripples, and that's how Cellica spotted Rydel when she approached Old Earth.

Artifacts seemed to attract certain individuals, and those individuals tended to love to experiment with new things and push new boundaries.

'Got it!' At last, Cellica has finally locked down the exact location of the planet. With that in mind, she opened the star map in her personal interface and noted down the planet that it represents. It's a strangely named planet called Venus, and there is no numerical designation behind it.

She pulled the map back out, and understood the sources of confusion. The system Venus is in is only a few gates away from the galactic capital, and it was where the human race started their intergalactic endeavors.

It was Venus of old, Venus of the solar system.

Meanwhile, on Absolute Academy, Lady Lily has called Sir Deva to her office at around mid day.

'Sir Deva, there is another job for you.' Lady Lily said, bringing up the map of a star systems with extensive notes made, 'there has been a rumor of a man with superphysical powers in this system in multiple locations, I want you to investigate and see if it's a possible artifacts occurence.'

'And if it is?' Sir Deva asked as he approached the table and copied the map into his own personal interface.

'Then I am sure you can deal with it.' Lady Lily reached her hands out towards Sir Deva, who took them. Then, they leaned in together and shared a kiss, 'but before you go, let's have some fun.'