Althia hovers over me, backlit by the setting sun. It’s hard to describe her sheer majesty or the feeling of awe she engenders in me. A serpentine body that stretches for hundreds of kilometers into the distance, dozens of sets of angelic wings pumping slowly to keep her aloft — although even that doesn’t seem enough to properly lift a being this massive. Her white-gold face, like that of a dragon of myth, stares down at me with burning sapphire eyes, and I can only imagine how small and insignificant I must seem to her.

  [You wish to save your home,] Althia says, her voice calm and oddly no longer loud. With her size, I’d expected her voice to be booming as it had been before. [This is a noble goal, and luckily, it is one I have already been planning to help with.]

  Despite Althia's splendor, I narrow my eyes at her. “Why? What purpose do you have for a place you cannot visit?”

  I rub the back of my neck, looking nearly straight up at Althia is starting to make it ache. “Also,” I comment, “can you please come down a bit. My neck is starting to hurt.”

  A melodic laugh sounds in my mind. [You do not seem to fear me; that is good. Of course, daughter. I will make things easier on you.]

  Abruptly, the entire scene shifts. The forest and the serene pond vanish like they’ve never been, instead replaced by a seemingly endless chasm filled with swirling mist. I now find myself standing at the edge of that chasm, looking straight ahead at Althia as she hovers in the now unoccupied space — the majority of her body disappears into the fog below.

  Glancing around, I see the forest behind me is still unchanged. However, there’s now a lawn chair and a small table sitting beside where I stand — the table holds up a glass with a chilled drink and what appears to be a wrapped-up sandwich.

  Huh… this is easier. “Thanks?” I offer, confused. If she can do all this, wouldn’t it have just been easier to make herself appear smaller? Of course, then she wouldn’t look like a badass gigantic dragon, so I get it.

  Gratefully, I sink into the chair.

  [Of course, Serena,] Althia says in my head, a tinge of playful amusement in her tone. Massive and terrifying Althia might be, but it seems she’s still just as playful as Celeste can be at times. Speaking of which.

  “Are you not going to join in on this conversation?” I internally ask my familiar.

  In a swirl of mist, Celeste appears in my lap. [Serena I… I’ve felt awful these past few days about how distraught you’ve been. I just… I don’t know how to help you. My hope is that, by bringing you to the one that helps me, we can figure this out. You have good reason to be scared; I just wish I knew what to do. I’m sorry…]

  I smile softly and stroke Celeste’s fur, “There is absolutely nothing you need to apologize for.”

  [Celeste,] Althia says happily, her tone reminding me of my father when I get home from school. [You’ve done well in following my orders. I do, however, see your points as well. Keeping your bonded partner in the dark might have been convenient, but it’s time that everything came out into the light.]

  Althia sighs, blasting mist away from her with the gust she releases. [My sweet daughters, it is time to discuss our plans for Japan and how we might retain control over it.]

  Celeste perks her head up and looks up at her mother. [Is the plan not just to survive until the convergence?]

  [Things have changed since you formed your bond, child,] Althia says, shaking her head — the movement travels all the way down her serpentine body like a ripple until it passes out of sight. [Originally, the plan was to simply wait until the convergence and claim Japan as the Eidolon Isle of the New World. However, it appears that the Volcora have learned of our plans and are attempting to take Japan for themselves. In addition, we find it highly likely they are attempting to slay our champions before the convergence can occur.]

  “Wait,” I start, leaning forward, “you lost me there. Convergence? Eidolon Isle?”

  [This is one of the things I was holding back from telling you,] Celeste says, turning in my lap to look up at me. [We generally don’t talk about it with humans as it tends to make them… uncomfortable.]

  [Your world is about to change forever, my sweet daughter,] Althia says, her voice somber, [and I’m afraid that my kind are to blame for causing it. For millennia, a war has been raging in my world, Eidolos. Again and again, we wipe out the Volcora, and again and again, they return. Because they have no bodies and have only rudimentary souls, in our world, they can never be truly killed. Over the years, they have grown from a small divergent faction into a force able to rival ours. We centurions, on average, are much stronger than the Volcora, but that is no longer enough when our enemy is undying. So, we forced things to come to a head.]

  I swallow, horror starting to build within me. “You… you started sending them to Earth?”

  Althia nods. [We found your dimension and your people. You are so very weak compared to us, but we thought that you could help us dispose of the weakest of our enemies forever. Thus, we started taking prisoners and sending over batches of weaker Volcora forces to be killed by your kind.]

  I shake my head, eyes wide. “But, if you’re to blame for sending them here, why not slow down the flow? Make it something we can handle?” I demand.

  [Calm yourself, daughter. You’re jumping ahead,] Althia reprimands gently.

  [You see,] she continues, [we were responsible for sending the Volcora to your world at first. We tested to see how much your kind could handle and carefully monitored to make sure you were not overwhelmed. However, we made a mistake. We didn’t realize that, in sending beings from our world into yours so frequently, we started a shift. Our worlds started growing closer together.]

  [Once the Volcora realized what we’d done, they started sending their number to your world by choice. Their goal is to conquer your world before our two worlds smash together and merge into one in an event we call the convergence. At first, only the weakest of their number could cross the dimensional gulf safely; however, as the worlds draw closer together, more and more are crossing over.]

  “So, you started creating sentinels to combat them,” I whisper hoarsely — horror choking me.

  Althia nods, sending another ripple down her massive body. [We couldn’t just let your kind die out due to the problem we caused. However, only the weakest of our kind can cross the dimensional gulf safely, and that’s only if they’re restricted to a soul gem. Yet, bonding with you was not only out of the good of our hearts. You see, having you and Celeste in this world makes it easier for me to attempt to crossover myself. It forms a bridge of sorts, and using which, I can aid you as I do now before the final convergence.]

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  I close my eyes for a moment, just focusing on breathing. “This entire thing, the Volcora, the Sentinels… it’s just your war moving over to our world. Earth is about to become your battleground.”

  [None of us wanted this,] Celeste says from my lap. [All we wanted was a way to make our enemies die permanently like we do when we fall. It… spiraled out of control. I didn’t spend long in Eidolos, but from the time I did spend… we feel awful for what we’ve done to you.]

  Carefully, I let out a breath. “So… this is happening. What do we do now?”

  [My colleagues and I,] Althia starts, [have decided that our first steps on your world will be two-fold. We will refound the Eidolon Isle on what is currently Japan and start forming new Centurion cities in the strongholds of humanity in North America and Eastern Asia. As of now, we find it likely that the majority of South America, Europe, and Africa will fall to the enemy — we aren’t sure about Australia yet, but it isn’t promising. Our enemy is more plentiful than us and is thus likely to claim more space than we require on your planet.]

  “Right… well, this is a lot to unpack,” I say, pinching my nose. “This Isle thing… what is that? What does it mean for Japan?”

  [The Eidolon Isle is the Centurion stronghold in Eidolos,] Celeste explains. [It is essentially where the Centurion government and most powerful members reside. The positioning of Japan near Eastern Asia and across the ocean from North America makes it an ideal location for our stronghold.]

  [Indeed,] Althia continues, [our goal is to solidify our control over Japan and form it into the heart of the new Centurion society. This is why the nine sent our sons and daughters to your world in a concentrated wave to Japan. We wish to see it through the coming disaster.]

  “But that’s not happening right now, is it?” I ask skeptically. “We’re losing. How can you expect my team and I to turn the tide?”

  Althia smiles, a menacing thing on the face of a gigantic dragon who could swallow me whole without even noticing. [You are not to turn the tide alone. You are to be the butterfly whose wings cause a hurricane. Push back hard enough, and the Volcora will instead focus their efforts on the likes of Australia, which could still go either way. They don’t know of our plans for Japan, and if you put up enough resistance, they’ll seek easier prey.]

  “Can we put up enough resistance, though?” I ask. “Things seem fairly bleak at the moment.”

  [We’re sending another wave of soul gems to Japan soon — more than we traditionally would for this last push. The sentinels they create will be the final sentinel generation on Earth. This should be enough, as long as you and your team grow to be the leaders you are meant to be,] Althia explains, sounding proud of herself.

  The knowledge that another wave of reinforcements is on its way sends a surge of relief through me. Maybe we won’t have to do this alone.

  I frown, catching onto something Althia said. “What do you mean the final sentinel generation on Earth?”

  [The practice of bonding centurions to humans will be halted after the convergence. It will no longer be required. You and yours are likely to be among the last of your kind. We have voted, and in Centurion law, sentinels are to be considered fully fledged Centurions. We may even drop the sentinel’s name eventually, although those kinds of things tend to stick.]

  Right… there’s that horror again. If we are to be the last sentinels, then does that mean humanity will just be the powerless afterthoughts in the war between Centurions and Volcora? After this convergence… will humanity end up being wiped out in the crossfire?

  “If you stop making sentinels,” I start, “don’t you take away all power from humankind to decide their own fate?”

  Althia considers a moment before seeming to shrug, [To be honest… we aren’t quite sure what will happen to humanity after the convergence. In the merging of the two worlds, will they become like us as we become like them? I find this to be a likely outcome, although the scale and what it looks like is yet to be seen. Please, daughter, do not worry for your people; whatever the outcome, we will see them through this war. Of that, I swear.]

  Normally, I wouldn’t find those words very comforting, but… coming from a gigantic dragon, they seem to have more weight. If Althia has decided to protect human civilization, then I suppose I’ll have to believe her when she says that she can.

  “All of this broad information is great, don’t get me wrong. Yet, it doesn’t help me right now. How am I meant to protect Japan until the Centurions arrive to claim it? Reinforcements are coming, sure, but they won’t be able to handle the greater threat any more than I can. As my team has proven, a bunch of E Rank sentinels can’t do much,” I say, fishing for more information. Based on Althia’s confidence and knowledge, I’m certain she has a plan.

  Althia seems to consider my words for a moment, and while she does, I pick up the drink she’d placed on the small table and take a sip. It’s startlingly good, tasting like a sugary strawberry lemonade.

  I’m just starting to eye the sandwich when Althia speaks. [I do believe your team has proved that E Rank sentinels can actually accomplish a great deal. However, I understand your point. The plan to get you to the convergence requires three main things.]

  [First, you and your team truly do need to train. The humans and other sentinels can train you quite well; however, when it comes to the powers you will be developing, no one knows them better than we do. As you learn, I will occasionally whisper some advice on the usage of your abilities, which should be extremely useful. However, this is ultimately to prepare you to act as our champions in the last few months before the convergence, but we’ll cover that when the time comes.]

  [Importantly, you need to put up enough resistance in the near future that the Volcora look elsewhere, and no one on your team is yet powerful enough to do that. As such, we’ll need to do some recruiting.]

  Right at the edge of the cliff, a bit of the swirling mist detaches and forms into the shape of a young woman with Japanese features; she carries a long katana that she holds with confident poise.

  [This is Nightsong, the American in charge of Japan. She is an A Rank sentinel and one of the most powerful sentinels in the world. We need to do something to attract her to come to Japan to solve a problem, just at the right moment to help stop a Volcora push on the city,] Althia explains.

  I nod to myself as I chew the sandwich that had been enticing me. Absently, I wonder if eating food in this mindscape will carry over to the real world. Probably not, to be honest.

  Swallowing, I say, “So… could we use the lawsuit?” I ask, scrunching my brow. “If my team and I throw enough of a fit about being forced to leave, will that attract her?”

  [Perhaps,] Althia says. [I dare say your sentinel mentors will know more about what will attract Nightsong than I will. Just know that we will need her to arrive in the city in about a month’s time, and we will need her to stay for around two months to ensure she is here during the push.]

  “Okay,” I say, reluctantly putting down the sandwich. “What is the third stage of the plan?”

  [Points of power,] Althia says. [We don’t yet know what they will look like — they could be objects, locations, or something else entirely. However, as our worlds approach convergence, points of power will begin to appear in yours. Places where the worlds are closest together. There will be many of them in Japan that we will need to find, claim, and utilize. By exploiting these points of power, I believe we can accomplish much.]

  I frown, “The first step to all of these is getting Nightsong to come here. Any ideas on how to do that?”

  [Execution will be under your purview, daughter. You need to attract Nightsong to survive the surge, claim the coming points of power, and train to become strong enough to act as my champion. I will offer guidance to help ensure success, but the outcome will be up to you. I trust that you will not fail, daughter.]

  I gasp awake, sitting bolt upright in my bed, where I fell unconscious. Groaning, I rub my forehead and look around as the golden power around me begins to fade rapidly. My sense of connection to Althia fades as well, but not to nothing. I get the sense that, if she wanted, she could still whisper into my mind.

  Breathing heavily, I clutch my hand to my chest in an attempt to calm my franticly beating heart. That experience had been surreal, far more than I’d expected. Once I’ve managed to calm myself, I slip off the edge of my bed and stand.

  With new determination, I turn to Celeste, who is standing on the bed watching me. “It seems like we have a lot of work to do.”

  Celeste tilts her head. [You’re not mad at me for keeping this from you.]

  I bite my lip, “I understand why you did… it hurts that you knew what was coming and didn’t tell me, but… I understand. I wasn’t ready.”

  [So, what now?] Celeste asks.

  “What’s the one thing that will certainly get Nightsong to come here?” I ask with a knowing smile.

  Celeste paws at her ear. [That’s not fair; you know I don’t know people as well as you do,] she complains.

  “The best way to get an authority figure to start paying attention is to make a big enough mess that they’re forced to come and clean it up.”