Sanctuary

The once barren desert of Terrana was now a small settlement, it had been constructed in the remains of the old Crystech camp, with the old Academy at the centre.

Rychard walked through the town, he had cut his hair and grown a slight beard, to hide is appearance, he was wearing a dark green shawl. He slowly made his way towards his old office, which was still unused. As he made his way up the stairs, he recalled the days when the camp was buzzing with activity.

He made his way inside and threw the shawl off, everything was exactly how he left it, though a lost of dust had found its way inside. Rychard sighed and sat at his old desk, putting his hand on his head.

"It's too late to turn back, I gotta go through with that I started" Rychard frowned. As he spoke, the door creaked open, in surprise Rychard jolted upright and looked at the door.

"Greetings, Rychard Pyre" Treleva smiled.

"You! You're Treleva!" He gasped, as he fell backward. Treleva chuckled at Rychard.

"You're so afraid of little old me?" Treleva laughed. Rychard struggled to his feet and tried to summon his Celestial Weapon, forgetting that he had summoned it with his missing arm. "I found out you were a little short-handed, so I thought I would offer assistance" Treleva grinned.

"Assistance?" Rychard asked, as he raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, I know of your intentions" Treleva nodded. "You to seek to bring down the gods who have controlled our lives for so long" He added.

"Aren't you with the Senior Partners?" Rychard asked, scratching his head.

"I was, until they left me to rot in a dreamscape for half a year, it's clear they have no use for me, another god who treated me like a pawn" Treleva explained. "I'm tired, Rychard. Lumina, Abyssia, Celestia, the Senior Partners, the Crystalla. All of them use us as pawns and I will not rest until they are all laid low" He continued.

"I see, I had, until now, assumed you were just some mad man, but it is beginning to sound like you see the world as clearly as I do" Rychard smiled. "Very well, I could use some assistance" Rychard nodded.

"Tell me, how exactly do you plan to kill the Partners?" Treleva asked.

"Go to their realm and slaughter them, of course" Rychard shrugged.

"If it was that easy, I could have done it myself" Treleva chuckled.

"Then, what do you suggest?" Rychard asked.

"We offer ourselves to them" Treleva grinned. Rychard smashed his glass desk with his fist.

"I knew you were working with them all along!" Rychard roared.

"Calm down, Pyre" Treleva laughed. "The Senior Partners would welcome humans into their ranks. They function like a hive mind, and would assimilate us into their being" Treleva explained.

"I see, but wouldn't we become part of the hivemind?" Rychard asked.

"Tell me, how far did you get into your research on nanotechnology?" Treleva smiled.

"We kinda came to a halt, the nanotech we had created had a bug, in which they self replicated, we had to detonate the site to stop it from eventually consuming the world" Rychard sighed. "Absolute disaster" Rychard frowned.

"Could you use the hivemind tech you used for the Droids, to connect our minds to the nano machines?" Treleva pondered.

"It should be possible, yes" Rychard nodded, as he stroked his chin.

"Perfect, I will need you to create some of those nanomachines here, for us to eventually use against the Partners, to hijack their being" Treleva grinned from ear to ear.

"Huh, so basically, we overwrite their hivemind with our own? Genius!" Rychard laughed

"Indeed, they will be powerless to prevent it as the nanomachines consume their realm and make it ours" Treleva nodded.

Rychard nodded with a smirk, then looked out of the window into the town below.

"We will become the gods of this new world, and not even the Harbingers will be able to stop us" Rychard laughed, as he gazed down to the town be