I've mentioned the bad things which came with the Fall, but let me not be misunderstood. Not everything which came through the breaches was bad. The Eels and the Dru are mostly upstanding folk, least those that I've met. Climbers are fun at parties. The Holy are always willing to share their meals and offer shelter so long as a guest is willing to listen to their preaching for a spell. The Elders and Pathos can be a little snooty, but I reckon they are pretty enough for it, right? They each brought new technologies and skills with them. Even some foods have come through, and red stag makes for mighty tasty chili don't it?

Don't judge a Grimm by how she never smiles. Their faces don't turn that way. That's why we call them Grimm.

At the end of the day, each breathing creature to step foot on the fertile soil of the Civilized Lands must be judged by his or her own actions. Does he have integrity? Does he have intelligence? Does he have generosity and open-mindedness?

As the Code of the West says,

Thou shall be tough but fair.

The night after the ambush at the farmhouse, 402 hiked along a horse trail under a clear moon-lit sky. The quiet of the night was shattered by screams in a nearby ravine. With no fatigue and uncanny reflexes, 402 ran towards the noise.

A small band of travelers were fighting for their lives at the bottom of the ravine. The mixed group of various aliens, gathered around a single lantern, were surrounded and being attacked by a larger number of greenish bugs. The bugs fought with ferocity and coordination, slashing at their victims with a razor-sharp mandibles. Three of the travelers were already on the ground, killed by the hungry monsters. 402 observed all of this from the edge of the ravine above them.

The bugs numbered at least a dozen. Their sizes ranged from that of a child to a full sized-sized human. Their bodies were long like ants but in an armored segment like a spider. Their carapaces were brown-green to blend with their terrain and covered in spines along their backs. Each had six extremely long legs which allowed them to scurry along the ground or stand taller than the travelers. The heads of the monsters houses red compound eyes and large jaws.

Among the travelers, a slim human-shaped figure with sleek purple complexion drew the most attention. 402 recognized her species as Bio-Zapper, more commonly called the Eels. She struck at any bug which drew close to her with a shock of electricity from her hands. The stunned bugs would back away only to be replaced by another bug immediately.

A shorter creature balled up near the lantern behind the Eel. 402 identified the creature as a young Dru. Her hairy features and large fox-like ears made her easy to identify, but she did not participate in the fight. She appeared frightened based on her movements.

A human with a long beard stood back to back with the Eel. He wielded a hatchet but ineffectively. He swung at the predators but almost never connected. 402 deduced that this human was blind.

To the left of the human and slightly farther away from the lantern, a stout Machine Man swung a long steel pipe in wide arcs. This Machine Man was larger than 402 and barrel-chested, almost a wide as it was tall. The traveler's chassis was painted bright red, contrasting greatly with 402's own camo-green visage. The steel pipe connected with one of the bugs and sent it flying.

Opposite the Machine Man, a final traveler stood with its back to the lantern. The short barrel-shaped body of the alien was covered in decorative robes. Above the body, a single large eye, bigger than 402's entire head, was suspended on a tentacle-stalk. The creature was waving its two arms in elaborate and highly symbolic movements. With each movement, the creature sent a quantity of invisible force outward and pushed one of the bugs away. 402 recognized this species as the Holy.

On the ground, three corpses painted the mud with their blood. Two had been Humans, armed with machetes and light armor which failed to save them. Chopped limbs and shredded necks displayed just how powerful the maws of these monsters could be even while cutting through protective padding. One was a Tusk, a gigantic alien twice as tall as 402 and gifted by nature with powerful muscles. They were known for their long elephant-like teeth in which Tusks took great pride. This Tusk's thick rhino-like skin had been equally ineffective to the artificial armor of the humans, and an entire leg of the cadaver had already been eaten away by larva up to the Tusk's knee. The brute had been the first to die.

402 took all of this in within 1.01 seconds. Within the next 0.01 seconds, it formulated a strategy.

The assassin leaped off of the edge of the short cliff. Although short, 402 was dense. His 123 kilograms (or 271 pounds) dropped crashing down on the back of the largest bug. The bug cracked and died instantly.

With a revolver in one hand and a pistol in the other, 402 released hot lead into the bodies of two more large bugs. A smaller bug leaped from the ravine wall through the air towards 402. The robot shot it out of the sky with another round from revolver. The monster was wounded but not yet dead. It snapped it's jaw and crawled awkwardly over the ground towards the Dru child. An overhead slam from the steel pipe crushed its head.

Another bug leaped from behind 402 and landed on the robot's back. It wrapped it's long legs around the robot and began snapping at the back of 402's neck. The robot's head spun 180 degrees to face the bug. A second bug, one which had already been shot by 402, sprang up from the mud and bit this bug on its thorax. The bug which had been brawling with 402 shook its head in pain. 402 stopped that shaking with a revolver bullet between the creature's eyes. Both bugs fell to the ground dead.

The remaining bugs turned and ran away into the darkness. 402 followed them with his guns, but he did not spend any more ammunition on them.

“Thank you,” said the Dru, still huddled next to the lantern light and hugging her knees. She spoke in the Earthling language, 402 observed.

402 asked, “What are the extents of your injuries?”

The red robot chimed in, saying, “Oh, I'm better than I smell.” It lifted a massive mechanical hand in a thumbs up signal. “You sure helped turn the tide in our favor, brother. What's a fine looking Tin Man like you doing in a rough neighborhood like this?”

402 answered, “I require a nose. What are the extents of your injuries?”

The Holy moved towards 402. His single large eye seemed to glow in the moonlight as it bobbed over the alien's body. It spoke from a mouth hidden somewhere under the robes, saying, “I can tend to the injuries of the survivors. The goddesses in their wisdom have granted me that gift.” With a wave of its hand, a slash on the arm of the human with the hatchet pulled itself together and healed shut, leaving behind no scar.

The Eel spoke next. “We thought we would be unseen by night predators down in this gully. We didn't know that an entire swarm of Creepers was nesting down here. Kugor stepped in one of their egg sacks hidden in a leaf pile. That must have been what set them off. By the time we realized what was happening, Kugor had lost an ankle to their larval brood.”

402 questioned her, “Who advised you to shelter here?”

The Eel pointed to one of the humans. “Ramon did, and he already paid for that mistake with his life. He was supposed to be the best scout for hire in Lago Cinco. Rest in peace, Earthlings.”

“Irrelevant, the dead do not desire peace.”

The Holy nodded his eye. “That is true. Even I cannot heal the dead.”

402 responded, “You can control the dead. I exterminated that Creeper before it animated and attacked one of its swarm-mates. This is the result of an Aether Feat. Was that your doing, Holy?”

The Holy stared unblinkingly at 402. “Necromancy has always been possible but not a popular application of Aether. What if I did? Is that a problem?”

The Dru child spoke up. “No, it was me. I can make dead things move. I would have done it earlier, but there were no dead Creepers until you showed up.”

The Eel chastised her, “Hush, child.”

402 kneeled down to face the Dru. He said, “You did have corpses before I arrived. You should have animated the cadaver of the Tusk named Kugor.”

The Dru said, “But, he's my friend.”

“Irrelevant.”