I spent last night hanging out with Natalie… The fact that she had family issues is still a shock to me, but overall I had fun, and I’m sure she did too. It’s been a while since I spent time like that with someone… Well, it’ll be a nice memory to keep, but for now, I have to go work.

Setting foot outside my house, I spotted the mailman, an elder brown dragon putting a letter in my mailbox before he flew away. It’s interesting that people are sending mail at this time in life, or me of all people, but nonetheless, I went to see what it was about.

…Hm. An advertisement for a company that builds houses. They must know I’m a good architect… Seems like they’re hiring.

I put the ad back in the paper and put it in my pocket, then took a taxi to work. While sitting in the backseat, I couldn’t help but think to myself about it. Crystal told me to build fun houses for people. 

I’m not sure if I should take Crystal’s advice for granted, but… If I enjoyed my time with Natalie, could I perhaps enjoy building a nice home for people and seeing their smile? Would that be the source of my own happiness? Making others happy?...

Well, I have no idea yet… For now, I have work to do. 

I soon arrived at Silver T. Big, and took an elevator to my corresponding floor. Interestingly though, Crystal arrived at the same time and entered the elevator with me. The elevator then closed its door.

“Crystal?” Legitimately surprised, I looked at her. “You’re going to work… on time. Did you fall off the bed?” Then I couldn’t help but chuckle at my own joke a bit like an idiot.

She laughed. “Well, how observant, little Matt! It’s because I need to talk to you and Ms. Natalie. I needed to wake up early and make sure I arrived early to not miss anything, by getting free as early as possible.”

“Hm alright then, what is it?” I looked at her wondering where she was going with this..

“Let’s talk about it when we’re together and with more free time.” She replied, and as soon as the elevator opened, she walked away with a smile.

I left the elevator as well, but Jesus Christ, what a weird woman... I went to my office and pulled out my keys, but as soon as I was gonna open, I heard someone approach me, so I looked behind me.

“Natalie?” Is it even normal for Natalie to approach me silently from behind? Oh well.

“Hey, Matt… Nice day today, right?” “Yeah…” I went on to open the door then looked behind me to direct my eyes at her. “It is, what’s up?” Natalie looked to her side shortly, but returned to face me. “Well… I noticed that you liked the taste of your own coffee more than the coffee we sell here, so I bought a kettle for the lunch break room.”

“Ah really?” I quickly smiled. “Alright, that’s nice, but you didn’t have to buy it, look I’ll pay you toni-” Natalie interrupted me abruptly. “Come on Matt, you invited me to hang out, talked with me, gave me coffee… I want to make it up for you for now. I’m really focused on my job, but I’m trying to make an exception this time. Will you let me, please?”

I remained in silence for a few seconds… It’s true, she is trying to be more casual with me at our workplace despite her saying we shouldn’t do that yesterday. Points for effort, let’s make it work. “Alright… Then it’s fine, I’ll make sure to make my own coffee when we have free time, but I’d appreciate it if you came as well. Crystal wants to talk to both of us, and I could share some more of my coffee with you.”

“Sure. See you later though, I have to discuss matters with Arthur and Dennis.” And with that said, she wandered off.

I entered my office and locked the door behind me, proceeding to sit down.

In my office, several machines that tracked and logged the building’s status stood before me, ready for their usage. Alongside some security cameras that showed live what happened in important locations, but it’s not something one should worry about that much, since they record automatically as well.

As I took a look, everything seemed perfectly fine, so I just guarded the building since it didn’t need any maintenance or hand work from me. Time passed… It was lunch time. I stood up and walked to the lunch room to meet up with my… friends.

Yeah, let’s call them friends. I think I’m starting to get a bit more attached to them… Crystal waved, while holding a cup filled with ice cream in her other hand. “Hey there Matt! You did come! That’s great!!!”

“Well, of course I’d come. I want to make myself some coffee, and I need to eat.” I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh right…” She looked embarrassed. Just closing her eyes, sticking out her tongue and putting both hands on her head like some sort of idiot.  “I just looked silly there, didn’t I?”

“Nah, it’s fine. Just wondering though, why are you eating ice cream?” I looked at it… It was just strawberry, vanilla and chocolate mixed together. With some cookies. Huh…

“Well…” Crystal looked excited, as if enjoying the fact that I asked about her meal, for some reason. “It’s because I really like sweets! Plus, I’m an ice dragon, so these things go well with me!” “Ah, alright then. That’s nice I guess…”

I completely forgot she knew magic. But if she knows ice magic, I guess that would explain why her scales are of cool colors… It suits her well now that I think about it.

And then, Natalie, Arthur and Dennis entered the lunch room as well. “Hey guys, I figured I should bring Arthur and Dennis, we need to talk about something as well, after Crystal talks about her things of course.” Natalie said.

“Ah, right.” I started to pull out my sandwich. “Don’t mind me while I silently eat, I’ll listen then talk if necessary.” Crystal chuckled. “You’re gonna eat while I talk? Alright! That’s fine, just listen to me now.”

We sat down on a table facing each other in a circle, Crystal explained her visit with Dennis at the Diamond M. Big building.

“Ah, I see.” Natalie sighed in relief. “It’s good to know that there isn’t a big fuss about this… yet. With that said, we need to talk about Emptiness and the late detectives again.”

I instantly swallowed my food as soon as she finished her sentence, and everyone else just looked at her… This was gonna be a strange lunch break, for sure.

Natalie continued, “We still need to find out more about this whole deal, so it would be ideal that we travel to Colderes again, we can use the detectives as an excuse for traveling so much.”

“A-again?” Dennis started to shiver. “You do realize how dangerous that is? You guys got attacked by… alien things!”

“Natalie…. If we’re going there, we should be more prepared than just travel belts. You know that, right?” My tone as I spoke was just quiet, to be honest, I don’t want to go there, but…

“You guys are worried about your lives, as I can see.” Replied Arthur. “Look… I know that investigating as Natalie suggests is a death wish. I completely understand that.” Arthur slammed his fist on the table, furious. “But if we don’t even do the attempt, that Emptiness anomaly is gonna destroy everything as we know. I didn’t reign a billion years worth of generations to have everything disappear before me!” Arthur was… deeply serious. I could see it from his expression, his words… But he wasn’t done yet. “If protection is what worries you, then I’ll use my fortune to cover the costs of medical supplies and protective equipment. I’ll put your lives above mine even, but we should cooperate. For the world. Are you guys just gonna sit and wait for what seems to be our death?!”

With that, he was finished. His discourse was over. None of us said a word as everyone, including Natalie just watched him in shock, we were still processing what he just said. “Why are you speechless? I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?” Arthur looked at us.

“Ah, not really, your speech was just… motivating, Arthur.” Dennis sighed. “But alright, I’m gonna give it my best, it’s better than sitting around doing nothing after all.”

“Yeah, you’re right Arthur.” I said as I intended to apologize to him. “I’ll make the attempt as well, honestly, it doesn’t scare me that much, it just seems really disgusting, but now that you mention it, I want to help, too.”

To change my way of thinking just like that and snap me back to reality… That must be what he’s built for as a robot. Being able to voice reason and lead others into what we should really do.

Crystal laughed. “Well alright, I’ll help too, I don’t really fear for my life and I’m not really against it, but it’s good to know that we can all work on this together. With Dennis and Matty boy.”

We all smiled. This strange feeling… I’m not sure how to describe it, but I think I know what I should do to help myself, and in turn others… We will put an end to Emptiness, I’m sure of it.

Natalie continued. “Well then, now that that’s settled, let’s go check Colderes in more detail tomorrow. Arthur and I can do preparations today, I guess you guys only have to worry about working today. As normal.”

“Alright then.” After we finished our lunch, I resumed my work duties until we were done, then I went home.

I went on to lie down on the couch while checking my phone, listening to the ambience of my house. Eventually, somebody knocked on the door. “Huh?” Who would visit me today and at this hour?...