Uriel returned to the waking academy, having been summoned by Master Jet a few hours ago. After returning from the Dream Realm, he had been summoned by Jet, agreeing to a meeting at the academy.
He had at least a suspicion that something must be about to happen, something that would force him to accelerate his plans. He could feel it, even with his Fated attribute.
Uriel let out another sigh as he entered the academy's faculty staff area, which had been extremely easy by simply showing his silence with his identity.
Sometimes he forgot that being famous brought many advantages.
Checking his communicator, he looked at Jet's message.
How she had gotten his contact, he didn't have the slightest idea, but the fact that she held a considerable position in the government gave him a clue.
It took him a while to reach the cafeteria. Upon entering, he observed the luxurious interior, the furniture made of wood from a Titan killed by the Valor Clan.
Looking around, Uriel noticed a face he hadn't seen in almost two years, a face undoubtedly difficult to forget. A beautiful woman, in a deep blue uniform, sitting in the corner of the cafeteria holding a cup of coffee in her hands.
"It's still not a bad idea, you know? We could join the government and avoid all the conflict with the great clans and all that."
Uriel rolled his eyes.
"Shade, it only takes a pair of tits to convince you of anything."
"Hey, not just any pair. They need to be high-class, perfect tits. You know, I have standards."
"...Sure," he responded mentally, rolling his eyes again.
"Do you want to die?"
Shade didn't respond. Uriel could only hear him laughing as he cut the connection.
Uriel cut off the mental chat with Shade as he sat down across from Jet.
"Master Jet," said Uriel with a slight smile as he looked at the Ascended who had received him after his first Nightmare.
"Uriel... oh, should I call you Master Uriel?"
That sounds a bit weird, thought Uriel, pulling out his own cup of coffee, which he had personally prepared and brought to his perfect point.
Although he now possessed the same rank as Master Jet, he knew two things: she was older and more experienced, and the other was that it was simply a bit uncomfortable being so close to a corpse. Something else that caught his attention was that Jet was presentably exemplary.
"You look quite formal," he said curiously.
"Oh, this? I had to attend a... a special ceremony this morning. Promotions are the order of the day lately."
"Congratulations on your promotion..." Uriel paused before smiling. "I have a gift for you."
Jet was a bit confused as she held a simple box, which she opened and, after one or two seconds, closed. Her face was drawn with barely concealed surprise.
"Where did you get this?"
"From the Dream Realm. I have a lot of those lately. Too many..." murmured Uriel.
Jet sighed, storing the box of transcendent soul shards.
Jet took a sip of her coffee and smiled.
"I'm still amazed at everything you've accomplished in these two years, since you woke up confused at the police station," said Jet.
"Yeah, a lot of crazy things have happened lately."
"Congratulations on becoming a Master, even if it's late, Uriel."
"Thank you, Master Jet."
The duo stayed silent for a few minutes until Uriel spoke again.
"I suppose there must be another topic and not simply congratulating me on becoming a Master."
Jet sighed.
"Actually, no. There is a second thing I wanted to talk to you about."
Jet looked around indifferently and summoned a Memory resembling a little music box. Immediately, a dome of silence surrounded them, isolating the external noise.
"To be honest, I wasn't going to have this conversation with you... at least not until some time. But since the situation has changed, what we're going to talk about may affect the decisions you make in the future."
Uriel simply took another sip of his coffee.
"It seems like something really bad," said Uriel. Of course, he already knew everything Jet was leading to, and he was simply pretending not to know anything, although he was surprised, since according to his calculations, there were still a few months left.
Jet pulled out a projector-type communicator. The image showed a map of something that looked like the current world map. He noticed some differences here and there from the map of his own world.
For example, Brazil was largely flooded with water. The United States and Canada were missing large chunks of land, left floating near the continent.
He looked at where Central America should be, but there was nothing: simply an expanse of water with no islands.
"Shit, Central America doesn't exist anymore!" Shade shouted in shock.
Uriel's eyes widened as he looked at the map.
"Why am I seeing a map of Earth?"
"As you probably don't know, our world isn't in very good shape. A few centuries ago it looked very different... there were around twelve billion people living on it, a few million even made it to the moon over time." Jet paused briefly, looking at the map. "But now barely three billion of us remain, and we only inhabit four of the seven continents. Do you know what continent we're on now? What's the city called?"
"We're in Asia and this city is called NQSC."
Jet nodded.
"Most of the planet's surface is uninhabitable or invaded by nightmare creatures, so megacities are the most convenient way to sustain a large population. However... even spell technology and modern science aren't capable of sustaining everyone. Hence the outskirts, where about twenty percent are sent to slowly die out, out of sight from the rest of humanity. But that's beside the point."
Uriel listened as Jet explained and showed the destruction and the general important areas, until she stopped at Antarctica. Then she explained about the chaos of the war centuries ago, the displacement of billions, the chaos of the Spell Era.
"Master Jet, I understand all this, but what does it have to do with me?"
"Oh, it's very simple. Really. Those four bastions of humanity I mentioned? They're about to become three..."
"What?" asked Uriel, eyes wide.
"Do you know what the Obel Scale is?"
"They explained it to me a bit during the interview. As far as I know, it's a very complex spell-technology system that the government uses to know when a Nightmare Gate will appear, and that Awakened must respond when one opens," said Uriel.
Jet nodded.
"Yes, but there's something you don't know: lately the Obel Scale has been failing quite a bit."
"You seem pretty calm, Master Jet," commented Uriel, looking at the government worker's cold expression.
"You're the one who doesn't seem upset upon learning this and hearing that from four continents, there will now be three."
"Well, I've been through really crazy things, so I've become more or less indifferent," he explained.
"Anyway," said Uriel, "what does the Obel Scale have to do with all this?"
"I'm getting to that. When we lost North America, something similar happened. The Obel Scale became misaligned, making its detection range unreliable. Finally, a Category Five gate appeared, and after that everything returned to normal. However, a few years ago the government began noticing these irregularities again. We came to the conclusion that something serious will happen again." Jet made a slight grimace. "This time, instead of one gigantic gate, there will be a kind of chain reaction... hundreds of small gates will open in rapid succession, allowing an endless wave of abominations into the real world. And all of this will happen in Antarctica."
Uriel was silent for a few moments.
"And what is the government doing about this matter? And the great clans?"
"We're mobilizing all our forces. And I mean all. We got the great clans to fully support the operation; we could hold Antarctica. However, it's not that easy. Everyone has their price. There are three other continents we must protect, and sending so many Awakened into the meat grinder will leave them defenseless. The fact that hundreds of portals will open doesn't mean it won't happen elsewhere. Spreading our resources to protect one quadrant will doom the rest. Even if it doesn't happen immediately, in the long term, humanity will cease to exist on Earth."
Jet rubbed her face and then smiled.
"However, that doesn't mean we're sitting idly by. In fact, the government has been preparing a massive operation for two years. It's just that the situation changed much faster than anyone could have expected. The schedule was brought forward several years. At least, our preparations aren't enough. We thought we'd have more time, a few years, yet that time shortened from one moment to the next, shortening the deadline to less than a month," she revealed.
"What is the government planning?"
"What else? We're going to evacuate nine hundred million people from the doomed continent while a horde of nightmare creatures chases us. Or we'll try, at least. Being honest, most probably won't make it."
The conversation between Uriel and Jet continued for a while longer, with Jet explaining the method to move millions of people, with the House of Night being the key.
"And what do I have to do with all this?" asked Uriel.
"It's simple. I want you to leave everything behind, check in... and come with me. Your strength will be of great help to us for this entire operation."
Uriel fell silent.
"How long until all this starts?"
"A month, two at most, though that's an estimate that could be reduced."
"Alright. I'll do it. I guess the idea of fighting back and forth is good enough for me."
"You agreed quite quickly."
"Well, I can't stand idly by while Antarctica goes to hell. So if I can help evacuate a few million, at least I'll have a clear conscience."
Jet looked at Uriel for a few moments before smiling slightly.
"By the way, where did you get those Transcendent shards?"
"Oh, I simply have the gift of attracting Corrupted rank creatures. It seems I'm some kind of irresistible being to them, so I kill them. There must be at least a few cores from some Tyrant or another I've killed."
Jet's eyes widened, looking doubtfully at the danger, whether he had really killed Corrupted Tyrants. But she simply took it as truth. After all, someone capable of becoming a Master while still a Sleeper and surviving two death zones was simply something that didn't make sense.
But then again, no one really knew what Uriel was to be so terribly strong for someone of his rank.
---
After the conversation, Uriel returned to his home. Upon arriving, he collapsed onto the sofa.
Without saying anything, Shade materialized in front of Uriel with a complicated expression on his face.
"This must be a bad joke. How the hell did the Nightmare Chain get brought forward so much? It was supposed to be in two, almost three months from now," said Shade.
"I'm just as confused as you."
"Do you think it's Fated's doing?"
"I don't think so. Fated affects things for us, whether fortune or misfortune. Something simply changed that accelerated the Antarctica event," said Shade.
Uriel sighed.
"Whatever the case, it seems we'll have to accelerate our plans. We can't keep counting on having a lot of time. I'm sure that not only will this be accelerated; maybe even the Domain War could happen sooner," said Uriel.
"You think so?"
"Yes... or no. Honestly, I don't know anymore."
"I guess we're not going to the Valor ball."
"With this happening, no. Too bad, I wanted to do some sightseeing in a castle in the modern era."
"Yes, undoubtedly too bad. Hey, at least look on the bright side: we're going to Antarctica. Don't you want to see if those ice walls the crazy conspiracy theorists talk about really exist?"
"I suppose so," reclining on the sofa, Uriel looked at the ceiling of his home. He had this week to organize his things and depart for the camp before being transferred to Antarctica to face the Nightmare Chain.
If Uriel could bet on something, it was that without a doubt, the Antarctica campaign would be the longest and most difficult event he would have for a very long time.