“Huh? Belts?” Dennis was confused at the sight, and to be fair, my curiosity was killing me as well, and just then, Crystal got excited. “Oooh! These are Travel Belts! They’re a blessing as a creation! You put them on and they power your soul to allow you to resist a lack of oxygen, hot temperatures, cold climate… With this we won’t need to wear any long and big space suits so long as we stay healthy!” ...She really knew about this, although it was kinda troubling me. Who the hell uses belts as protective gear?!

Out of everyone here, I am the most ‘normal’. My only skill was being an Architect. Sure, I was really good at it, but it’s not something I saw as something I wanted to dedicate my life to. While I admired how much the world progressed, I felt like my work with buildings wasn’t all that special compared to the flashy and bright ones that some other architects make.

“Hey uh, Crystal, my soul is pretty bland, do you think I’ll be fine with this? I mean, monsters are pretty dominant when it comes to magic but…” Crystal shook her head and laughed. “Don’t worry Matt! They work with bland souls as well, so you’ll be just fine!”

“Ah. Thank heavens.”, “Alright, so we simply put this on and it’s over with?” I asked while staring at the belts.

“Yeah, I agree with Matt. Is it that simple?” Said Dennis. Guess we’re both as curious and nervous. But if Natalie and Crystal are confident in this, then I’m sure it works. “Well let’s just find out by trying.” Replied Arthur, confident and trusting in this technology. We all put on the Travel Belts, and as I did… An awkward, slight tingling sensation through my body started to hit me. The feeling moved to my limbs and later the rest of my body. Then just quickly after, the feeling stopped.

“W-what the…” It took me by surprise, but I guess it was to be expected from something that messes with your soul. Natalie interrupted me however. “Alright, time to get things moving. Dennis…” Dennis looked at her. “Agh, yes Boss?”

“Get the spaceship to Colderes while I explain the matter at hand.”

“Oh alright then.” Dennis got his hands on the ship’s panel and sat on the front seat. Just as Natalie directed her eyes at the rest of us.

“Alright, we’re gonna split into two groups. Dennis and Crystal, then Arthur, Matt and I. Based on our wits and skills, I thought this was a good combination”

“Uhh…” Dennis got nervous as he inputted commands into the ship. “Are you calling me stupid and Crystal smart?”

I helplessly chuckled a bit and Crystal laughed. The ship traveled at incredible speeds towards the planet, however, we didn’t feel anything thanks to how secure our belts and the ship’s fascinating tech were keeping us. Thank god.

Shortly after, we arrived at our destination. My eyes witnessed an empty land with dark splotches scattered randomly across the terrain… “Wow. How is Colderes again?” I asked Crystal. It seemed pretty lifeless.

“Ah. It’s known for having no life in it, being tiny, and cold. Really different compared to our good ol’ planet Meex, right? Well… these dark splotches shouldn’t be here, though.”

“...Yeah.” I couldn’t help but gulp. Natalie then showed her palms and summoned a briefcase using her magic.

“Don’t get alarmed, but I brought a gun for each one of us in case things take a turn for the worse. You all better remember how to use them from Shielder training. If you need to contact anyone, use your cellphones.”

Dennis looked at Crystal then and the guns. “Alright, but if anything happens to me, it’s your fault, Boss.”

We grabbed a handgun each. The weapon at hand was a small, energy powered pistol made for security personnel. A ‘Soul Blaster’. After confirming it was in safety mode, I put it in my pocket.

We split into two groups and went in opposite directions. Natalie, Arthur and I went west, while Dennis and Crystal went east. We also went in a straight line to not get lost.

“I’d like to see if we can find something around here that looks immune or at least resistant to the Emptiness. You know, since there’s the possibility that the Emptiness is traveling and not expanding.” I told Natalie and Arthur. We’re still ignorant of the matter, but I threw in my thoughts anyway.

“I’m gonna keep my eyes watching everything then. Since I’m a robot, I should be more helpful at this.” replied Arthur. It’s true, robots are pretty good at completing tasks. “Although, while we do this, I’d like to ask something off-topic if you allow me.”

“Huh, what is it?” I said as Natalie and I looked at him curiously, wondering what he wanted.. “Matt, why do you refer to Natalie by her name so casually? You call her Boss occasionally, yeah, but Dennis calls her Boss and Crystal calls her Mrs.”

“Oh, we went to the same academy before becoming Shielders. We haven’t been doing much together after that but we went for similar goals so we ended up working together. Although she’s my boss now… Now that you mention it, I didn’t know she moved to an apartment of her own. Perhaps hanging out once again isn’t out of the question.”

Natalie laughed… quite unusual for her in the middle of work, might I say. “Yeah, we were really close back then, we’re still close, but we should probably spend more time together for sure. Back then at the Academy Of Justice I would study law, Matt studied architecture.”

“Yeah…” I exhaled slightly with an awkward chuckle.  “We would always see each other in our free time, although now that we’ve grown up we barely have any. You’re really lucky, Arthur. The world doesn’t need you anymore so you’re free to do whatever, and have gained a lot of wealth and respect due to being so old.”

“Right.” Arthur chuckled lightly… We’re such a mess.

On the other side of the planet, this funny little Dennis guy and I, Crystal, were exploring and looking for clues.

“Hey… Crystal?” “Huh?” I looked at Dennis with some eager curiosity and put my hand on my cheek, wondering what he wanted… the dumb canine… “Do you smell that? It’s like a weird… sweet yet burnt smell.”

“Mm..” I looked in the direction of the smell and sniffed.  “I do smell something, yeah. Just like that. What do you think it could be?”. “I don’t know… let’s follow it and find out.”

That moment made me smile. I’m so glad Dennis and I are monsters! Thanks to our superior survival skills, we could find out something in the distance that Matt, Natalie and Arthur wouldn’t otherwise. How amazing! Ahahaha!

Dennis and I walked slowly following the strange smell to find out what it was. It was definitely distant, so it might take a bit for us to get there. Whatevs!! We got time.

“So, why do you think Mrs. Natalie paired us together?” I’m terrible at conversations, but I thought it was better to get one so as to not get bored.

“Ah… It’s probably because I’m her assistant. You’re a scientist. I help people do things and you do things. Maybe… I can help you whenever we find something. The others probably are a nice trio.”

“Huh, fair enough.” And then, when we reached the source of the smell, we saw…

…“Dennis… that’s…”... “AHHHH!!” Dennis yelled with all his might out of fear, out of what we witnessed. A male human which we didn’t recognize laid there on the ground. Dead…

“Who… is this? And what happened to them? This is… Wait, this means that somebody else knew about Emptiness besides us.” If someone was there, dead even, then this wasn’t a private matter anymore.

Ugh… Dennis shivered in fear, and I crouched towards the body. Dennis yelled at me almost instantly though. “C-Crystal! What are you doing?! That’s a dead body you’re getting close to!”

How annoying. “Lemme check what happened, this is technically a clue to this planet. We came here to investigate, didn’t we?” I looked behind myself to look him in the eyes, as I rolled my own, wanting this silly puppy to not bother me.  Dennis whimpered like a little puppy. “Alright, fine… I’ll… I’ll be watching from a safe distance then. Eugh.”

Carefully inspecting the body of the man… I realized his back was covered in weird splotches of black goop. “This is odd… We saw these splotches around the area, but now they’re on someone. Do you think they’re some sort of bacteria, Dennis boy? I know you’re scared but I really need your thoughts here.”

“U-uh…. Sure, it might as well be. I’m not touching it though, you have gloves so you’ll be fine.”

“Right…” With Dennis’ useless answer, I flipped the man’s body for it to face me. Its face expressed exhaustion and weakness… As if something took his energy in his last moments. “Wait…”

I took a look at the man’s jacket… And noticed a Shielder’s badge.

“Right, it makes sense for him to be a Shielder. Not everyone can get here this easily… Dennis, did you talk to anyone about the Emptiness?” Dennis shook his head. “Sh-Shielder? No, never, Boss wanted everyone to keep their mouth shut. Obviously I’m gonna follow her orders!”

“I’m a bit worried then. If this guy is a Shielder, with gun training and all, then whatever got him must be tough! It also means that other Shielder departments know about this… The more people know, the worse this is!”

I took a closer look at his Shielder badge… His name was Raymond Mars. From Diamond M. Big.

“This is bad, Dennis. We need to inform the others about this as soon as possible.”

“Hey Matt, we haven’t found anything yet, do you think Dennis and Crystal have found anything?”

“Hm. No idea, Nats. I hope they did.” I scratched the back of my head, this was starting to get boring, and just then… My phone began to ring. “Oh, looks like you predicted it.” Reaching for my phone in my pocket, I quickly answered. “Hello?” 

Then I heard Crystal’s voice. “Hey, Matt...y, boy. Eh anyway, I have some big discoveries. Are Natalie and Arthur with you?”

“Yeah, tell me and I’ll tell them. Just gonna say already that we haven’t found anything of importance at all.”

“Ah, well… we found a dead body.”

“What?... Crystal, you’re not pranking me, right?” With the way she said it so casually, I wasn’t sure what to think…

“Come on Matt, I’m serious! I wouldn’t joke about a dead body!” She sounded slightly angry, I guess she is serious.

“Alright, please explain then.”

“So, the dead body belongs to a Shielder. It looked like his energy was drained somehow, probably his soul. He’s covered in black splotches as well.”. “A Shielder? Dear lord…” [Blink, beat]. “Then this mission is serious business… Can you wait for us so we can regroup?”

“Sure, but please hurry.”