Back in the office, the background ambience noise of air conditioners and keyboard typing filled the area as somebody in specific worked hard. A Terran lady who had to do most of the things in here. That lady... is me. Natalie Rose. I don’t have the most exciting job, but I enjoy it nonetheless. I admit I get too focused on it though. More than I should. I’m just doing boring paperwork right now… Well, more like I was. Looks like I’m finally done.

I got up from my seat and walked out of my office. To my surprise, Dennis was standing in front of my door… 

“Dennis? You alright?” I looked at him wondering what’s wrong with him. “Ah, uh.. Hey boss! It’s just I needed to tell you something, but I guess I got lost in my mind…” He frowned and started to scratch his head, swishing his tail a bit like an innocent puppy.

“Weird. But what is it? You’re my assistant, I need you to be more… stable, I guess.”

“Ah, well. I got news that there’s gonna be a mass meeting of Shielders regarding Emptiness. I was told to inform you. “I see. Thanks, Dennis. Did you tell Arthur?”, “Yeah, I told him. The meeting is today at 6 PM at the top floor auditorium of Silver T. Big. I think that gives us enough time to get Matt and Crystal. I don’t think they work that long.”. “Alright great. Thanks! Please give Matt and Crystal a call and inform them about this as well.”

Dennis smiled at me. It’s unfortunate that Crystal decided to follow Matt’s choices, but those two do a lot here so I guess they have an excuse to do something else. What a thrill… I went to get some tea in the lunchroom. Arthur was already sitting in there, just casually reading a newspaper. Upon retrieving my desired tea, I sat down at the same table as Arthur, in front of him. “So, what’re you reading, Arthur?” I told him, I needed to talk about something to relieve stress anyway.

“I’m just checking the comics… I already checked the news and words of Emptiness are everywhere. And I thought it was a secret… Bah. It’s tiring, but that is to be expected.”... “Yeah, that makes sense... I’m a bit worried but I think we’ll all figure out a solution. That’s probably what the meeting is for anyway.” I sipped some of my tea. To be honest, my heart is beating pretty fast right now, this whole situation has been giving me anxiety but I just hide it behind my ‘tough’ boss persona that my job demands.

Arthur put down the newspaper. “So, Matt and Crystal don’t know, correct? We should probably tell them. I heard that it’s only word of mouth between us Shielders to sort of make this a low profile meeting.” I looked to my side for a bit then at him. “I ordered Dennis to tell them. Those two are very responsible despite their appearances, I’m sure they’ll go.”, “Ah, good, good…” Arthur just yawned a bit, and pulled out his excuse of a phone while I continued to drink the rest of my tea. We didn’t say anything else, and nothing much else happened for the remainder of the lunch break.

Eventually, the time had come. 6 PM… Arthur, Dennis and I took an elevator to the top floor early to avoid traffic. Loads of people made it there. Some early, some on time, some late. The top floor consisted of a huge auditorium. Bright lights illuminated it entirely and there were comfortable seats for everyone. At the end of the auditorium, a man stood with a mic and some speakers. He poked the mic a bit to test it out, but it made a horrible, loud screeching noise. Everyone shook a bit and covered their ears. He lowered the volume. “Sorry about that.” He said. Quite clumsy for an introduction, but otherwise this man is the chief of Silver T. Big. ‘Robert Sails’ is his name.

“Unfortunately the situation hasn’t gotten any better. Not much has been found out about how to deal with Emptiness… Regardless, our scientist team has found a rather shocking discovery. That Emptiness outside has expanded and completely consumed Colderes.” Complete silence filled the auditorium. I just gulped the saliva in my mouth nervously, completely unsure what to think. The silence was so loud I could hear the blood rushing from the people near me. And some place I had been in not long ago was hidden from our view, along with the detectives that tried to investigate it. “So then, if anyone has any ideas, please speak up.” I thought nobody would say anything, but to my surprise, Arthur who was sitting next to me stood up. “Excuse me sir, I have an idea.”

“Alright, please walk over here and let everyone hear.” Arthur nodded. “Of course, sir.” And walked towards the microphone. “I figure at least most of you already know who I am. I used to lead the world and all that jazz. Well… To put it short, my soul is stored in a magical and technological device. Let’s call it ‘The Ultimate Artefact’, if we could perhaps protect the world with a combination of magic and technology from everyone, we might not be able to save the universe, but at least our planet. The Ultimate Artefact has such capability.”

Everyone started to talk to each other, the area filled with chatter. Gone were the sounds of my own gulps and the disturbing bodily fluids from the room. The uncertain and concerned chaotic opinions weren't any better. Much worse than what I had seen in my Managing career. “Well, that’ll be a real pain in the arse, but it seems to be the only option we have now.”  Robert answered, we could hear his gulping echo across the room thanks to that mic… It certainly didn’t help.

He continued, “It’s really unfortunate we reached this moment in our lives, but it is what it is… You can all go home now, we’ll make plans for Arthur’s idea.” To feel so helpless and useless despite being a Shielder… I don’t know how my life ended up this way, I feel so awful. Also, I have no idea where Matt and Crystal are. I don’t see them anywhere.