"West we have a contact!" One of her subordinates called out as they brought the picture to the main screen. "What the hell is that?"

"A dragon?" West asked with a mix of humor and surprise.

"How did that get this high up? It is nearly in the upper atmosphere!"

"Send three fighters on a pursuit course!" West called out.

"A second signal!" Someone else called out before the screen enhanced to show something climbing the back of the dragon as the fighters flew out of the ship. Then the dragon spun around and started dropping back to the planet. Soon enough it was out of range again, then they lost contact with the fighters they sent down.

"What the hell was that?" West asked in complete shock.

Then one of her screens blinked and she clicked to find she had been sent an encrypted message. She looked closer and frowned as the message said that the Western Continent had lost control of the people from the ship that came through the black hole. The people and creatures that were in stasis. Now the continent was covered in a jamming array that covered the entire planet.

"This explains what is going on..." West mumbled as she tried to find the source of the message but just found that it came from Luna. The moon of Prima Terra. She was lost in thought for a moment before she suddenly pressed some buttons. "Archivist, please tell me you have found records about what the angels had stored in stasis aboard their ship."

"What? No- actually... maybe. Why? I thought we had them at a facility and were studying them." The Archivist asked.

"We were. The facility in question was on the Western Continent. Which was where they were moved since that continent saw the least amount of rebellion. But now..." West trailed off in her explanation before coming back around to it. "Anyways, we have lost contact and we need to know what is down there for when we send out people down to retake it later. Get that information up here."

"I will when I can. But I am rather busy trying to find a wealth of other useful information." The Archivist answered with a sigh.

"Fine." West sighed and then looked to the side as a pair of people walked into the control room. She then ended the call. "What can I help you two with?"

"What happened? Why did we have an emergency?" The prince demanded as he walked to the center of the room to get a view of the screens.

"We had an... um... enemy?" One of the people announced and looked at West who shrugged. "A... dragon appeared." The person then declared, getting a glare from both the prince and Sherlock who walked in with him.

They then looked toward her. West shrugged. "The video and scan both showed a dragon-like creature. I assume it was one of the creatures from the angels’ ship that was brought to Darwin Research Facility."

"Oh shit..." Sherlock seemed to connect the dots first. "That explains the reason we can’t reach the Western Continent. How about-"

"The fighters are back!" One of the people called out. Interrupting Sherlock, which made sense considering they were not talking very loudly. "They got several surface images and... they just sent them in... holy shit..."

"Put it up on the screen." The prince ordered and they all turned to look at the main screen which was showing the image of the dragon before. But it suddenly changed into a picture of the Western Continent from an aerial view.

There was only a single city with a space port. But there was an additional space port located at the Darwin Research Facility. But this first picture was of the plains beyond the mountains. West had seen a picture before and knew the plains had villages and towns covering it with expansive roads. With a city that had plenty of sky scrapers making it up.

But now there was no city, just rubble. While the plains that were filled with roads and villages were replaced with molten lava and small islands scattered amongst them. It was like several volcanoes had gone off and were still spewing up lava.

"We won’t be able to reclaim that continent." The prince declared. "Are there pictures of our base or the mountain villages?"

"Umm... there is a grainy one of the bases." Another of the people in the command center announced before the screen changed. "But I do not think any of us are going to like it."

She had not seen a picture of the base before. But when the image appeared she knew it was not right. Because it looked like hell had opened up. "What the fuck..." She mumbled.

Nested between a few mountains and some ravines was a massive hole with several black tubes or vines that seemed to go down into the hole. In the image you could just make out the glow of something inside.

"Well that is terrifying." One of the officers in the room pointed out.

The prince sighed. "I am starting to feel grateful that we were never able to capture one of the angel ships intact." After a minute of them staring at the image he looked over at West. "Go down to the Eastern Continent. Find the others from the other galaxy." He then looked at Sherlock. "You are going to Luna. Find the ones that are hidden there."

"Are we sure? This could burn the bridge with them if we try to force it." West pointed out.

"Positive. Now get moving." The prince told them. Both of them looked at each other in confusion. "Did you hear me?!? Go! Now!" The prince screamed at them.

West and Sherlock moved out of the room. "He’s losing it." Sherlock mumbled as they walked. West moved a step behind and sent a message.

[The prince is losing it. It is almost time.]

—------------------------

Jace coughed as he woke up. Then he realized he was not awake.

"Oh great." He groaned in annoyance as he pulled himself out off the grass and looked around. He looked at the endless sea of grass and suddenly saw a shadow fall over him. He turned around and saw a giant tree. In front of the tree stood an old man in monk clothes.

But Jace looked up at the tree. "Ha."

[I have been expecting you.] The monk spoke.

Jace scoffed. "Stop using the puppet. Is there a reason you are knocking on the door?" He asked as he looked around again and the view changed. Behind him was his ranch house again, symbolizing his mind place. In front of him was a door sitting in the road with a monk and giant tree with grass around it.

He was not inside the doorway.

"Tch." A bodiless voice spoke. "I was sure that would work. Why is your mind shielded so well?"

"Because I am not going to let things play hopscotch through my brain." Jace answered as he sighed. "I will say, the last time I saw-er actually I heard or communicated with an entire planet was when I was killing one."

The leaves of the tree inside rippled as the scene suddenly changed. The grass became red while blood leaked from the tree. The monk was headless with several different weapons skewering his body.

But then the image changed back to the serene landscape. "Oh..."

"You need to fix it." The voice told him.

"You are going to have to be more specific." Jace told it.

There was a growl as the scene flashed to the bloody one again. "The things you brought are killing me. So kill them. You and I both know you can do it. We also know the planet will boil and die before too long if you do nothing. So think of this as less of a quest and more like a plea for you to just get it over with."

Jace frowned and thought about it before it clicked. "Now it makes sense." He then closed the door. "Try to hang on." He whispered as he turned away and blinked his eyes.

When he opened them again all he saw were rocks with some light leaking through past it. "Oh great, I am buried beneath rubble." He groaned in annoyance and then saw the message reached a nearby source.

"Jace." Victor spoke. "You went a few feet into the mountain when you crashed back down to earth- yeah I will ask."

"Ask what?" Jace responded as he moved his arms forward and started digging through rocks. As he did he felt something like a pull of his attention and he looked to the side to see his knife sitting among some rocks. He reached over and grabbed it before sheathing it on his shoulder sheath before continuing to swim through the rocks going toward the surface.

"Uh, my... traveling companion wants to know why he cannot sense your mind." Victor asked. "Because well... the monks had this whole thing about controlling souls and..."

Jace stopped. "Oh..."