Soldiers filtered into the field hospital’s common area for triage and patient assessment from other sections meant for more intensive care and treatment. Those from both the AXIS and SETI units were being dropped off unceremoniously by the hospital’s staff from Captain Titanetta’s unit, sometimes literally dropped, right into the various tan cots that had been erected for soldiers to lie down and rest.

  None of the hospital’s staff looked happy. Every time they brought another small group of soldiers through the heavy plastic doors of the common area, each one with their white medical coats over their uniforms, they possessed scowls and glares that showed just how much they thought of the idiots who had been fighting each other and making so much pointless work for them.

  Aster chewed on his sandwich quietly, eating the last bits of it, attempting to avoid looking at various medical personnel. In the silence that had fallen upon them as they finished dining on their makeshift sandwiches, the pain from his broken leg and arm stung at him. And one of the medical personel who passed by them saw his pained look and tossed them some more vials of healing elixir, tossing Garrod a few extra ones for his missing arm.

  Selenia tried not to stare at Lelesia or Etoile, some of whom had nearly succeeded in killing her, and instead stared at Garrod’s missing arm. “Are you going to be okay?” Selenia asked.

  “It’s just an arm,” Garrod replied. Selenia tilted her head. “Regrown limbs aren’t anything new. Nor lots of blood loss. And it’s not like a lot of us haven’t lost arms, limbs, or been seriously hurt before. I mean, you should ask Aster. He got beaten up a lot by his family when he was younger.”

  Aster coughed. He didn’t want to think about the so-called training he had to endure growing up with lots of siblings who had different definitions of the word training.

  “I mean, his brothers and sisters used to beat him up way worse when he was younger,” Garrod continued. “Though his sister Fia would know more than that. I mean, she beat him up a few times too.”

  Fia snapped her head at Garrrod. “It was training. And well”—An embarrassed look washed over Fia’s face—”We didn’t know how to hold back.”

  Aster held a hand to his gut. It was always hard to defend the gut. It was sometimes difficult to block in that general area.

  Fia looked at Aster, face red. “I didn’t know that kicking with my talons was so dangerous. How was I supposed to know how sharp a Harpy’s talons are when I was a child? I mean, I didn’t want to stab him in the gut with them. It just happened.”

  Lelesia pointed a clawed finger at Fia, laughing, her melodic laughter occasionally broken up by the chittering laugh that Velzelian arachnids were known for.

  “Shut up!” Fia said as she glared at Lelesia. “It’s not funny!”

  Fia wrapped an arm-wing around Aster. “My little brother was spilling his guts out because of me, you know.”

  And he really had been spilling his guts out. On that day, he learned that you needed to avoid having sharp objects stabbed into your gut. Because it hurt a lot. Especially when your insides fell out of your body.

  Saphie smiled happily while Fafanpan and Etoile sighed. Garrod chuckled together with Lelesia.

  Selenia coughed, edging away from Fia.

  Lelesia moved and sat by Aster and Selenia. A wistful look came upon her as Selenia tried to ignore her. “You two, you both like stories about heroes, right?”

  “Yes…” Aster said. What was with Lelesia all of a sudden?

  Selenia nodded quietly, nervous about talking to the arachnid.

  “How much do you know about my mother and father?” Lelesia said.

  Everyone turned their head to her.

  Selenia shook her head quietly.

  “Not much…” Aster began. “They’re… Serenoa and Amoria? Some of the founders who started the Federation?”

  Lelesia nodded. “The heroes Serenoa and Amoria,” Lelesia clarified. “You see, a long time ago, my mother and father were little more than little brats like you both. And my father always enjoyed recounting the day that he met my mother as he was traveling through the Fercynia Forest. Mother never liked it told, but father always told me she is still, to this day, awfully embarrassed about how she could never spin a web right when she was younger. It was always off in some way. And then, when father stumbled across mother, she had gotten so surprised that she had become entangled in her own web.” Lelesia laughed. “A Velzelian arachnid getting surprised and entangled in its own web is the height of embarrassment for us, so you’d normally leave a Velzelian alone to get out of it by themselves. Though my father didn’t know that. It’s embarrassing and shameful for an arachnid to get help. But he just helped her anyway after laughing at her. And afterwards, my mother tried to kill him for it. But my father just laughed it off and went away. That was how they met.”

  Everyone listened quietly.

  “You see, at the time,” Leleisa continued. “Velzelia and Ravenna had been in a state of on and off again war for centuries. No peace could be found. It wasn’t simply a competition for the territory and resources of the Fercynia Forest; it was animosity and hatred for the other side. Bitter anger and grudges from centuries of fighting. It wasn’t until my mother and father got together and started bashing some heads in that things started to change. And change they did. It took a lot of fighting. But they eventually managed to not just settle the conflict between Velzelia and Ravenna but even bring the two together. Somehow. The heroes Serenoa and Armoria, who became King of Ravenna and Queen of Velzelia. And from those beginnings, eventually came the Gaia Sphere Federation.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Lelesia stopped, then shook her head. “Look at me ramble on,” Lelesia said wistfully.

  Aster opened his mouth, then closed it. Was there a point that Lelesia was trying to make?

  Lelesia saw the look Aster gave her.

  “You reminded me of some things, that’s all,” Lelesia said. “Not that it matters much in any case.”

  “Your mother and father were royalty?” Selenia said suddenly.

  Lelesia turned her attention to Selenia. “Sure. They technically still are.”

  “So does that mean you’re a princess?” Selenia said.

  Aster coughed. This demonic spider, a princess? It sounded wrong. Actually, it sounded really wrong the more that the words went through his head.

  Lelesia stared at Selenia for several moments. Then laughed. “Sure! I guess that means I’m a princess!” She shrugged. “In that case, since we’re princesses, I’m sure you’d love to meet my mother.”

  “Uhh…” Selenia said.

  “You are cordially invited by me, a fellow princess, to see my mother, Queen Amoria,” Lelesia said. “Just know that my mother is a whole lot scarier than me. For one, she’s a much bigger and scarier arachnid than I am.”

  Selenia coughed, shaking her head. “I think I’m fine. Thanks.”

  “Well, you can see my Dad then.”

  “Is he also a big, scary spider like you?”

  “He’s human. But sometimes, just so you know, he is even scarier than my mother.”

  “Oh,” Selenia said. “That sounds… great? I think I’ll pass.” Selenia said, chuckling nervously.

  “Well, maybe I’ll introduce you both to them one day,” Lelesia said in a chittering chuckle. “I’m sure you’d both love to meet them. Genuine heroes out of history in the flesh, so to speak.”

  Aster didn’t know about them. In the academies, though they were taught about the history of the Gaia Sphere Federation, much was left out aside from the general basics. Many details had been omitted, and much was often secretive. But all knew that Serenoa and Amoria still led the Federation to this day, along with others who had founded the Federation who were still alive.

  But now that he thought about it, if Serenoa was human, how was he still alive? He would likely be at least a few centuries old by now. Long life spans for Velzians weren’t anything new, but for a human. That was strange. The Federation’s technological development meant that humans had moderately longer lifespans, but it sounded as if Serenoa was still an active leader of the Federation and not an old retiree at the end of his life.

  “Captain Lelesia!” Blanche called out as he passed by them in the distance. “Get these brats together. We’re leaving.”

  “Ya. Ya. I hear you Big Bird,” Lelesia said, sighing at the phoenix. She rose and took out a small chalkboard.

  Lelesia ran her claws ever so slightly down it, which caused a sharp, discordant screech that made them all groan and cup their ears together.

  “Alright, you brats! Everyone with AXIS! Up, up. Let’s go,” Lelesia called out. All the various AXIS soldiers began to rise, stumbling with their arms, legs, and various limbs, annoyed and disgruntled.

  “Hey, Aster,” Etoile said from his side.

  Aster turned, seeing Etoile telegraph a punch and send it to him. He easily caught it in the palm of his hand. They looked at each other for several moments.

  “You always have some pretty words to say,” Etoile said.”But…”

  “They're not bad ones,” Lelesia finished as she wrapped an arm around Etoile, then shoo’ed him off.

  Etoile left without a word after giving them all another passing glance. Selenia crossed her arms as their eyes met. The others simply quietly watched as he left.

  Aster looked in the distance as the pair who had been causing a commotion earlier said their goodbyes.

  “Terrie!” Callie said.

  ‘Callie!” Terrie replied.

  They hugged each other, kindred spirits who had to depart from one another.

  “If anyone calls you a girl again! I’ll kill them!” Terrie said.

  “And if anyone calls you a boy again! I’ll kill them too!” Callie replied.

  Aster chuckled at the sight as the two parted ways. Even if they were from different units in an inter-service rivalry that had spilled into actual armed conflict with one another, it wasn’t as if one had to remain enemies after fighting. It wasn’t as if people had to be opposed to each other forever. They could find common ground with each other. A little infighting amongst the Gaia Sphere Federation wasn’t unusual. It was actually quite normal. And expected. Considering the diversity of those who made it up.

  And they had been able to share a meal. That counted for something. He hoped.

  Lelesia chuckled beside him. “In any case, just remember, this time, we may have just been playing around, the next time, you may not be so lucky, brat.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Aster said. He felt like he could get along with Lelesia if only she weren't trying to beat them to death, and/or kill them.

  “Your ignorance and naivety will cost you one day. After all, our war with the Settlement Front Alliance will never be over. Not until we achieve victory. Or perhaps until this world gets the answer it seeks,” Lelesia ended. “But there I go rambling again.” She chuckled.

  Aster thought back to the visions of the past he had seen. The war… she was right. The war had never ended, had it? The flames of it had died down to smoldering embers, but it couldn’t be extinguished at this point, could it? Not until the people fighting were themselves satisfied.

  Lelesia stopped for a moment. “Oh. And by the way, don’t be surprised if you get a little surprise in the near future,” Lelesia said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Aster asked.

  “You’ll know when it happens,” Lelesia said. “If you have questions, ask your friends here. And if you’re really a Protogen, you’ll feel it before it happens.”

  Aster opened his mouth, then shut it.

  Everyone watched in silence as Lelesia left along with the last remaining AXIS soldiers.

  “See you around, Protogen boy,” Lelesia said, walking off and giving him an absent wave as she did so. “Maybe I’ll toy with you again next time, maybe not. I’ll decide when the time comes.”

  Aster watched her go, and a sudden chill went through him. Rather than relieved, he felt more worried than ever. For some reason, he couldn’t doubt the surety of her words.