The core beasts were still within sight, and screaming barely comprehensible gibberish at us as we slipped through the door. This time, instead of sealing it behind us, we left it wide open for the world. I shook my head, still unhappy at the idea of just what we were doing here, but I accepted it had to be done.

"Man, remember what happened when you tried to run through the desert the first time, Dave? Kind of crazy how far you've come, isn't it?" Cecile asked, dredging up the memory of how bad my body had been when I had first arrived here. Most days, it didn't even occur to me anymore that months ago my knees had barely worked, and now I was on par with an Olympic-level athlete, if not beating them for most feats of physical prowess.

"Yeah, I can honestly say this isn't where I ever expected my body to be at," I replied, forcing a smile as I pushed down the welling sadness of what we were doing.

"It's almost fitting that it's the three of us here for this, since it's where we started," Elicec added.

"Forgetting me?" Elody asked as she led us through several doors rapidly. We passed odd-looking machinery and dusty desks as we moved through what I thought were old storage rooms. I never really had gotten a good grasp on the true size of the Archives, especially when accounting for the sub-levels.

"Sorry, just meant how my brother, Dave, and I ended up here. Still can't believe we just bumped into him like that. Rabyn's been calling it fate, maybe he's right," Elicec replied. I still wasn't sold on Rabyn's theory, but I did have to admit that there were some insane coincidences surrounding all of us at this point.

"I know. I just meant it as a gentle joke. As for Rabyn and fate, if that's something you really want to investigate, there are diviners deep within chaotic space. I've never personally met them, but I have heard great claims from people I respect. I don't think we will be able to make such a trip anytime soon, but it is something to consider for the future," Elody replied.

"Chaotic space sounds interesting. I won't pretend it doesn't, but we will need things a lot more stable before I can just disappear to do that. As much as I may hate it, I accept I'm the figurehead holding this all together right now," I replied. Truthfully, given half a chance and the right day, I might change my mind on the claim. But for now, there were too many people depending on me to say that thought out loud. At least Pryte could take care of most of the day-to-day needs of the Empire at the moment. However, that was likely to change as we grew.

Crashing sounds exploded from where we had been. The monsters were officially in the Archives, just as we reached an elevator door. Elody quickly ushered us in, and in moments we were back in a much emptier bay. Only a single transport was left. I hoped that, however Mel and Timon were doing this, it was working.

"Before today, I always thought I'd come back here to liberate this place one eventually, turn it back into what it was supposed to be," Elody sighed loudly before continuing, melancholy dominating her words. "At least we saved the underlying part of it to attempt to rebuild in the future. Next time, I promise I will be strong enough to stop the fall from happening. I am deeply sorry, old friend, and I apologize to all the souls who will miss out on what this place was created for."

She wasn't speaking to us when she said this. That was obvious. The words were for both herself and the building itself. I didn't speak it out loud, but I made my own promise that moment. We'd find a way to save this entire planet one day and work to rebuild it to what it was. Elody could have her free library one day again.

We waited in silence, letting Elody take her moment she needed before a sad smile returned to her face and she spoke again. "Thank you for letting me say goodbye, but yes, it's time to go." She immediately climbed aboard the transport after those words. With nothing of my own to say, I followed her with the brothers behind me.

The trip back to Smithtown was surprisingly uneventful. I had thought at least part of the horde would try to break off after us. Then again, considering the speed of these transports, maybe it just wasn't possible. How big of a mess were we creating for the rest of the planet, leaving the core beasts behind? We needed to warn the Cactomen before we left. While I was considering how best to do that, a chat window popped into view.

>Corey: Dave, Traveler says there is a problem with the gate. They are concerned with the integrity of the highway system.

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>Dave: Oh yeah, we already encountered that problem. Apparently, chaotic space is seeping in. We've got a plan in place to get back home. The goal is to bring all the Reltleons with us. I'll let you know more when we are on the way.

>Corey: Traveler does not like your revelation about chaotic space, and urges you to get back as soon as you can.

>Dave: Working on it. We are on a timetable thanks to the Triox already. Let everyone know we are bringing around two thousand people back with us. They are bringing their own supplies, but this is going to quickly turn into a giant mess of getting settled.

>Corey: Understood. Good luck.

>Maud: Does this mean you guys are safe? We were worried. :(

>Dave: Yes, we are safely on the transport heading for Smithtown. Can you tell Pryte we need to find a way to let the Cactomen know about the core beasts?

>Maud: Yep. See you soon. :)

"Corey just reached out to let me know Traveler can detect bigger issues on the highways, so I think our trip back just got worse," I said the moment I closed the chat window. This was going to create all kinds of issues in the long run. The Traveler Gates were supposed to be our way to travel to other parts of the Spiral.

"With chaotic space bleeding in, the potential problems are impossible to predict. Yorela knows far more about the dangers than I do. We can consult with her when we are back in Smithtown. I'm more concerned with the loss of the highways as a whole, though. This will be a blow to the faction that we will need to solve," Elody replied.

"Yeah, but that can wait until we are back on Earth. The important part right now will be getting there," I added, already worried about the future.

I let my mind wander through thoughts of how we would settle the Reltleons back on Earth. Space wasn't exactly an issue. Any neighbors I might have had were incredibly far away, if they were even still there. Hopefully, they had enough of their own builders able to work with wood, because that would make this much easier. There was a ready supply of timber as long as people were willing to harvest it.

As my mind started going through the possible layout for a settlement, I caught the outer walls of Smithtown coming into view from. In front of them was a giant line of vehicles waiting to get through the gate. It seemed Mel's idea had worked well enough. That left us with about nine days to get everything we could packed up and off the planet.

Once we were at the back of the line, I decided we had better things to do with our time than wait for the traffic to clear. "Elody, let's just leave the transport here for now. We can send someone out to collect it. There's no sense in our wasting time here. I want to see if Grant has managed to form a core and start working on what's next."

"I was about to suggest the same, and I imagine that is what the others have done anyway," Elody replied as she stood up and opened the doors. Once we were outside and walking past the other transports, it was very obvious she had been right. I hoped they had at least collected any of the cores they had used for driving them.

We found the others back in the mayor's office discussing possible plans. Neither Grant or Mel were there. "I assume Mel is with Grant?" I asked.

"Yes, he was able to form a core. Mel is going to quickly try to get him up to speed for our return trip. In the meantime, we need to start getting all Reltleons prepared for this trip. We have a hundred transports, plus our own bus. We need to have at least twenty people per vehicle, which is going to be cramped, but doable with the Archive fleet," Pryte said.

"I can't believe we managed to do it. Considering how bad my head hurts, he has to be worse," Timon said, annoyance in his voice.

"What about System storage, how much can we fit there?" I asked. I could find out what exactly Mel had done later. Right now, I had no idea how much space was available, how much the books had taken up, or, for that matter, how it all really worked. That was something I decided to look into when we returned. I was sure Karlinovo would have some knowledge to dump on the topic.

"The Archives took up about half the space. We will start with food and the personal possessions they were already going to bring, and then expand to all the extra materials we can fit after that. The plan is to fill the space to the brim," Pryte answered just as a smaller Reltleon burst through the door.

"We've got a problem at the Gate. One of the creatures is trying to come through!" he yelled as he entered the room.

"Dammit. Alright, Arena squad members, you're all with me. Pryte, make sure the Cactomen find out about what we are leaving here," I said before dashing from the room toward the Traveler's Gate. I felt no nostalgia from the last time I had to do this. What was with Smithtown and problems?

Cactomen are an interesting species within the Spiral. They can actually trace their lineage to a homeworld of the Aracterids where they were just a species of flowering cactus, until one of their kind awakened as a primal mana beast. It was one of the rare mana beasts to fully survive integration and then began to propagate a new generation of its own people. From those seeds, the first Cactomen were born.

Descendants of the Primal Mana Beasts by Elpho First of His Line

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