1 0. Prologue

Two sinister ethereal Tetrapods phased through the earth into a well-defended underground bunker. Below, a lovely couple guarded humanity's last hope, resting on a terrible power. The cold, detached Tetrapods deactivated their synthetic stealth scales. Massive, four-legged reptilian-like creatures strode forth. Shots slugged out from their mouths, two biomimetic bullets. Unable to react in time, the tall, brown-eyed man spewed his brain matter on his wife. His warm, red blood ran down her face and body.

Distraught, the woman initiated a lockdown of the bunker. Sirens rang out announcing the moment of the final struggle between humanity and the true death. An ultraviolent ray of light expelled from her body. Her husband's blood crystallized by the heat released by her body. She grew two half-meter-long horns instantly. The heat from the light she produced emboldened the Tetrapods like moths to a deathly flame. A small sun grew in between her horns. Another thin woman with fair, pale skin and slanted eyelids appeared at the deep end of the passage.

She yelled, "What's going on?" After teleporting, her eyes needed to adjust to the blinding glow of the guardian. Shocked at the sight of the guardian whose entire body was radiating light and heat.

The guardian turned to her and said, "Run!" Blades of light shot from her body, building into waves, then a blade surge. The blades locked down the Tetrapods in place. The waves of light blades charred the biomimetic weapons, and her power vaporized everything, including the remains of the two guardian lovers.

A series of cuboids materialized into a woman. The room she was in was the most secure part of the bunker. She yelled as her skin cooked from the attack. Roger ran to her body and said, "Cynthia what the hell happened?"

Unable to resist her death, she grit her teeth to suffocate the pain and her excruciating voice said, "Send him back now." In front of her, hooked up to a chair that was blowing the seven prime colors was Sihle, the half-man. He had black hair, bronze skin, and hair like sheep's wool. Roger ran to his guild leader, Sihle, activating the interdimensional transfer. Two loud and impossibly charred bodies phased into existence from above. Growling in pain as they cracked their charred carapace skin.

Roger realized as soon as the two Tetrapods arrived that there wasn't enough time to send Half-man. Thinking to himself 'I'm sure he won't mind, at least he will have most of his memories." He punched the emergency evacuation module. Half a metallic body detached itself from Sihle's bodies that started convulsions. Flakes of flesh falling off the Tetrapods. As they tried to move closer to the device, Sihle connected to. Roger grabbed an amygdala-sized biomimetic metal ball out of Sihle's brain. Snapping the synaptic connections to Sihle. Roger then placed that metal ball into the device directly.

Roger bravely took his ultimate steps guarding Sihle. Every second he could get was a chance they might succeed in sending Sihle's memories back to his younger self. The Tetrapod swung its claw arm at Roger. Holding out both his hands, an energy bubble appeared around Roger and Sihle. Around the bubble, it sliced everything, even the ground. Another claw arm descended. Roger smiled as he grabbed a small dead man's switch linked to the bomb under the device they are using.

After a silent prayer for all those he is about to kill, Roger says, "You are too late to stop us. This Arkanine bomb will make it impossible for multidimensional beings to survive in our solar system. A powerful thrust from the claw shatters Roger's barrier and the claw is now sticking out Roger's back. His frail, lifeless body goes limp. The dead man's switch falling from his hand onto the ground. The nods on the Arkanine bomb lights up as it comes to life. Three seconds later, an explosion destroys Arcadia. The biggest city in the world, spanning half a continent and housing over a trillion souls. They lost each of those trillion souls turned to ash without even a warning.

From the wreckage, a woman appears alongside her are people who have shaped the world from its shadow.

The masked man, "Aria, are you sure it has to be like this. If he fails it will doom us to this timeline. There is no going back now. The bomb will prevent any other forms of time travel too."

Aria turns to him, picking up a piece of Sihle's metal body, and says, "The others we sent back showed no changes to the timeline. Only he and his friends somehow change things. I sent a bit of myself back to prevent us from interfering with his development like before. The rest of you should have some useful info in six months, at least this way. Even if he fails, we don't have to kill as many people."

2322 Arcadia City, 13th district Aka Bergbon Village

One week later...