Nikeila needed happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

Swavira was here! So the meteor storm was likely connected to the starship. What about the blue fog?

Wait.

If the starship fell and Swavira was here, then what about Thalzev? Did the thenebre survive the landing too?

She felt complicated. When she entered the escape pod, she resigned herself to never seeing Kaivel again. But if he survived and was here… No. The thenebre being here was terrible. They evacuated their planet to get away from them.

She stopped thinking about it.

She looked at the sleeping girls. Were humans also connected to Swavira?

The three girls had flushed faces. But they weren't too hot, so the fever would end soon.

Nikeila woke them up.

{How are you feeling?}

"I'm okay," Navie answered the message, rubbing her eyes. "What happened?"

Nikeila was glad it worked. Now she could communicate with them in writing.

{I don't know either. The fog is cleared.}

"Hm?" She finally noticed something in front of her. "What is this floating translucent window in front of me?"

{It's me. Nikeila. And that is your profile. Think about checking your Identity.}

"It's changed!" Navie read the information. "Rank 0? Order and class? Health and mana? This looks like a game."

{It isn't a game. The information is important and true. Take a look at the other tabs, like Attributes and Skills.}

The other two woke up and another round of surprises and questions ensued.

"So you really can understand us. I thought you were just a smart mutated cat."

"I feel nothing different. So now that I'm order Air, can I make wind blades? Or maybe I can fly?"

"You're Air? I'm Air too. What about you, Shandra?"

"Earth. But it can't be that easy. We're all class stage 0. That must mean we can do close to nothing."

"It's okay. We can just train or something."

Shandra sighed and rolled her eyes, giving up talking about reality harshness to these two dreamers.

"Hm, my head feels strange."

"Mine too. I thought it was because we'd just woken up."

Nikeila thought of something.

{Navie, stay still for a moment. Don't resist. I want to check something.}

"Okay." She closed her eyes.

Nikeila got closer and touched her hands. Through contact she let a sliver of her mana enter Navie. It had to be a very small quantity so Navie's natural defenses wouldn't feel threatened. The mana traveled slowly straight to her brain and confirmed the presence of a crystal inside the girl's head.

Was the fog's purpose to change humans' physiques?

Navie touched her forehead. "That felt so strange!"

"What was that?" Vanchi wondered.

{You all now have a crystal in your brain. It isn't a bad thing. It'll help you get stronger. It's related to mana.}

The crystal was similar to the vitality crystal in her chest.

{You should take note of any change in your bodies.}

"So this crystal is the source of our power?"

"Or maybe we have a brain tumor."

"Don't be a party pooper, Shandra."

Shandra called her grandma, but it wasn't picked up. Vanchi's parents texted her the night before when the meteor fell, and they seemed fine then, but now they were unreachable. Navie couldn't get in touch with her father.

"Let's go home first."

They bought supplies but there were still personal things in the apartment. And then they could decide where to go.

The girls didn't hear the scream for help from inside the market.

The car drove through the familiar streets. Something amiss in the air. They were tense by the eerie atmosphere as if the quietness was an ill omen.

"Are the streets so empty at this time of day?"

"They are, aren't they?"

"Was there something today we forgot?"

"I don't think so."

On the streets, people were using their phones, calling someone, or filming something inside the houses. They were distressed and curious, talking in small groups, seeking answers. The three girls were clueless about what was making them so disquiet. Was there something just out of the girls' sight that they saw and feared?

Nikeila stared out the car window. Considering they were knocked out until earlier, it was logical to suppose everyone was the same. So people were still examining the situation. A cautious stillness.

The fog had done more than give them brain crystals.

As the car passed, they saw more people getting out of their houses in panic, being chased by someone. Others locked themselves inside and watched from windows. They almost ran over a man dashingg across the streets.

Shandra looked ghastly. She could have killed someone!

He had a gash on his left shoulder, his shirt soaked in blood. The man barely stopped and rushed away without looking back.

"Is he okay?" Vanchi whispered.

No one answered. They watched others flee, yelling something. The girls were too stunned to comment.

"I think we should also--"

Bang!

The four screamed in fright and turned to the right. A woman hit the car window. It was dark, the street lights were far apart in this area. Navie aimed the flashlight at her face. Blood covered her mouth, neck and chest. As if she threw up blood or feasted on it. Her pallid skin was marked red-purple veins, like poison spreading throughout her body. And the white of her eyes was red and her iris had lost their color, looking pale and blind.

It was obvious that the woman wasn't normal.

She was infected with Thalzev. She was a stage 0 thenebre.

{Go! Get out of here!}

Nikeila ordered Shandra. She wasn't sure this car could withstand a thenebre's attack. And thenebre were social creatures. If there were others nearby they could swarm the streets and they wouldn't be able to drive away. So it was better to get out of here fast.

Shandra parked the car on a deserted street with a few buildings around.

Nikeila had a dazed expression, thinking deeply about something. The other three were still in silent shock.

"That," Navie said tentatively, "was a zombie, right?"

Vanchi covered her face with both hands and Shandra gripped the steering wheel.

Nikeila stirred. Did they recognize the thenebres? Had humans been in contact with Thalzev before?

{Is a zombie how you call an individual infected by a parasite? In the first stages, they can't think rationally, recall their memories or past, and have cannibal tendencies.}

The three nodded. They hoped Nikeila would say they were mistaken.

{Then that was a zombie. We call them thenebre.}

"We who?"

{My people. We call ourselves efulgens.}

"Oh. Do they all look like you?"

{Our original bodies are different. This is the body I ended up with when I landed here. It's a long story.}

"Really? You can change your body?"

"Vanchi, you're avoiding the heart of the problem."

"What? I'm doing no such thing. Aren't you also curious about Nikeila?"

Navia let a loud gasp out. "Look outside! That window!"

There was a man with a woman holding him from behind. He bled as she chewed his shoulder. He saw them and signaled for help. But there was nothing the girls could do.

"Let's get out of here."

There was no doubt anymore they were facing a crisis.

Vanchi and Shandra still had trouble wrapping their heads around it. A cute alien was more plausible than a zombie outbreak. But there wasn't denying what they witnessed on their way back.

They slowed down and parked near their apartment complex. Shandra's electric car wasn't very loud, so it didn't attract attention. They saw the zombies ambling. There were many familiar faces among them. They could see some survivors and zombies through the windows.

Through the windows, Navie saw Tati and her husband in her bedroom and a thenebre in the living room. The couple was trapped inside.

"We have to help them," Navie said.

"Are you crazy? Navie, I'm tired of telling you this. You're always doing things for people, but they're completely taken for granted! No one feels thankful at all. Stop trying to save everybody! I know you want to help others because you were helped in the past, but this is stupid. You keep giving and giving, and you never receive anything back."

Navie scratched her head, more awkward than upset. "I don't do it for them. I do it for myself. This is my selfishness." That was the truth. She felt good doing those, so she just did them.

"It's too dangerous. We should look for a safe place to plan our next steps."

"But our things are still in our apartment. Didn't you say you could never lose your notebook? And Shandra's sister's memento is there too," Navie argued.

"Those things aren't more important than our lives," Shandra said firmly. "We still have to go meet our families and see if they are okay. Aren't you worried about your father?"

{I agree with them. Needless dangers should be avoided.}

"But we know those people. How can we ignore it?"

Nikeila glanced at the reluctant girl.

{Is there someone very important there? Someone you love? A family member? Someone you have a deep connection with? Or someone you must protect?}

"N-no"

{So do you have the power to help without putting yourself and the people around you in danger?}

Navie pursued her lips and looked down. "I don't."