The elf men turned their heads to Benign when he patted their shoulders. They nodded at him in unison. The trio left Kiron Station and went out to the desert.
Benign stared at the desert with renewed hope. At least, his crew was coming together. "Are you awake, Lego?"
[I don't sleep. I'd always be available when I want to be.]
"When 'you'd want to be'?" Benign scoffed. Now he had a clue on his next course of action, it was fine to work the machine to the bone. "Find where Noria's capital is."
[What do you plan to achieve there? Isn't it Logan's Station you should head for?]
"That part isn't your problem so you don't need to know. Go to work instead of asking questions."
There was no reply from Lego. Since he withheld information from him, Benign planned to play the same cards. He turned to the elf men watching him.
"By the way, what do you know about the glitches?"
That was when he knew the smart one, who cleared his throat immediately and a scroll fell into his hand out of nowhere.
"Allow me, good sir. My name is Vargel Crosspath."
Benign nodded, noticing the similarities between their names. "Nice to meet you. I'm Benign Cross."
Vargel nodded with a smile. His face straightened when he started reading from his scroll. "According to the history of the realms, this is the first time the glitches had started in small scales before."
"Please, elaborate."
"There was a time when many realms glitched to a different place. Most realms ended up lost within time and space. The only surviving realms being Noria, and the other two."
The way Vargel said 'the other two' made Benign chuckle. They had to accommodate citizens of the other realms to work together.
And lost realms? Would he have to do something about that? The lost ones were probably done for.
"Was this just speculation or there's evidence somewhere? I mean the disappearance of other realms."
"Speculated. But they're caves with relics belonging to neither Noria or the others so it backs up the theory that lost civilizations must've existed."
Benign stopped walking and turned to him. "So the current realms never noticed when it happened at first, to check which realm it was?"
How closed off were they from each other that they didn't notice something as huge as a whole realm going missing? It seemed the squabble with themselves had stayed too long.
"Well, we are separated by a space wall. Visiting another realm would require high use of mana and it's not worth it. The surviving realms did notice their own realms had different climates afterwards."
Benign shook his head. "Any other proof?"
"Yes, Norians being depicted as winged elves; fairies, in our history books. Because our realm glitched to a hostile environment unsuitable for flying, wings evolved out." Vargel's tone lowered in disappointment.
Benign remembered Lyra mentioning a Two-Winged sisterhood. It must've been named to pay respect to the ancestors.
"I see. If only you and 'the other two' realms were at peace, you'd have intelligent minds come together to study the effects of the glitches, and know how to handle it if it ever happened again."
Vargel opened his mouth to counter but closed it quietly.
"That is to assume the other realms have intelligent minds." The other elf spoke, his voice a bit grumpy. "They only think, eat, and wage war. They probably glitched from a universe of no-brains."
Benign turned to him and frowned. Another jumpy elf. It was his first time speaking and Benign wasn't fond of him. "Intelligent minds exist everywhere. War doesn't always mean stupid. They're desperate."
He walked down the dunes and away from the men. They followed him, and he noticed they stepped on the sand like it was lava. It must mean they rarely left the comfort of their self-made fake paradise.
"It must've been hard for you elves. After your wings evolved out, you decided to create your own habitat."
Vargel shook his head in despair, as if he had witnessed the event. "Yes, wings kept on cracking and shattering. Fairies stayed wingless. Years later, a child was born wingless and controlled by magic in the body, not their wings. It marked the beginning of elves."
Benign looked at the ground, before giving the elf an encouraging nod. That was an interesting difference between an elf and a fairy. The writers in his world would be awed.
"You are worried that your realm would glitch to an even worse place, now, aren't you?"
Vargel let out a tired sigh, looking up at the skies. Benign looked around the place they were. "Well, those caves you mentioned, I'd like to look for myself and check any additional information they left us."
Back on earth, cave drawings had done a good deal to improve civilization to what it became, so Benign hoped for a similar insight.
They wandered far away from Kiron station but everywhere looked the same. The sun never moved and their trail marks disappeared after a while.
Benign wondered if they were circling the same place. His sense of direction failed him horribly in this place. He glanced at the elf men occasionally to make sure they weren't dehydrated.
Just when Benign could vouch that the dunes he passed were different and he moved ahead and not in circles, Vargel's steel rod began to glow, causing him to alarm.
They stopped walking and came around him. Vargel dropped everything he held and stepped away from the rest of them, with a panicked expression on his face.
"What does that mean?" Benign asked, his eyes darting about to identify any incoming danger. "Vargel, are you about to glitch? Is that it?"
"No, no, instead a glitched is coming towards us. And with the way the rod is glowing brightly, I fear an army of glitched creatures are on their way!"
Cawww! Cawww!
Benign looked up to the darkened skies as sickeningly familiar birds soared and let out disturbing screeches above them. Another hostile attack and he worried what weapons or skills he'd use to handle this. It was an aerial attack.
He squinted his eyes and snapped them the next second. The worst fears of Creature Icarus?! Weren't those the birds he buried with Hell Rain?!