7 The Anomaly

Two beings stood in a virtual space. Or rather, they *existed* within the space. There was no need for standing, as they were a pair of consciousnesses that simply *existed*. Their age and gender were unknown. There was no need for such things here. They could communicate instantaneously, and not much else was relevant.

"The time has come. The suitables will arrive soon. What shall you do about them?" One asked the other.

"Leave them alone for now," it responded. "They should fare well in their new environment. And even if we wanted to... We don't have many resources to aid the miscellaneous suitables. We were instructed to save it for him."

"For him... What are you planning on doing with him?"

"We will test him, of course. Look where he is now."

"...! Do you really think... this is the appropriate method?"

"It's necessary. There are some aspects of him that are still lacking. He needs strength."

"I agree, but there has to be another way."

"There are other methods, but this is the most optimal. We need to build our strength as quickly as possible."

"You're right about that... What do we do about the anomaly?"

Indeed, even though he and the suitables were a concern of high priority, there were more pressing matters at hand. For example, the third and fourth presences that had suddenly appeared within the system. This was an issue that threatened the existence of this entire world. Invasion of their system shouldn't have been possible as far as they knew, so they dubbed it "the anomaly".

"He takes priority. If the anomaly claims him, it's over. His survival is paramount, and we must defend him at all costs. We need him to get stronger as soon as possible so he can sufficiently aid us."

"Understood... then are the preparations complete?"

"Yes. However, there's one final thing that we could add..."

And in the base camp of the new world, it left two messages...