Mom... All of that looks... delicious. Is this truly fine to spend so much on food ? I can't really taste anything. It would be a shame to prepare so many dishes when...

  Seeing their son's hesitation at the sight of the banquet Marianne had hastily prepared, the two overjoyed parents could only shake their heads, amused. Paul was circling around the table where the delicious feast was ying.Orange was already licking its own pte clean. Today's occasion was enough of an excuse to give the cat a fourth meal.

  Jeanne was already designating seats and who would have the privilege of sitting next to her brother. Of course, she gave herself the best spot near him.

  Meanwhile, Paul was wondering how in the world his parents had been able to prepare so many dishes in the span of two hours. He was perplexed, truth to be told. After the emotional discharge and the cubic meters of tears Marianne and Matthias had released were dried up, Jeanne and himself had taken the time to expin his situation, the origins of his new body, his state of mind and the feelings he harbored towards himself now, as clearly and calmly as possible. During the whole ordeal, Paul had felt his pate drying up by the second. With each sentence, each letter, each breath that came out of his throat, the man felt that he would explode.

  Of course, another tearful five minutes followed the expnation before the family settled for good. Jeanne's and Paul's mother still decided she'd go spend a fortune on expensive food despite their son's protests.Jeanne had tried to say it was okay, that her income allowed such expenses rather regurly, but even then, it left a metaphorical sour taste in Paul's mouth. Throwing all that money when he wouldn't be able to taste any spice, any fvor...

  ... With that said, he would be lying if he were to say the dishes didn't remind him of fond memories. Memories his broken mind had been holding on during his time among... Them.Finally, the family decided it would be best to eat while the food was still hot and soon enough, the clicking of dinnerware filled the room. At some point, Jeanne even started to hum a song the two siblings liked when they were younger. Paul listened attentively to the rhythm, trying to remember from where it came from.

  Meanwhile, the two parents were distributing the cuts of meat and the veggies, filling everyone's pte to the brim. The smell was heavenly and it didn't take long for the family to dive in the succulent dishes. As he chewed on the tender meat, Paul silently wished for his taste-buds and sense o taste to come back again.Reforming a humanoid body proved to be difficult in itself, but creating the smaller details was even worse than stabilizing the overall shape.And even then, the body was still far from human-looking. If he focused on a body part, another one would revert to a reptilian appendage. Right now, at the price of a longer tail and dorsal spikes, he had managed to alter his arms and retract their wing membranes.

  Paul remembered that he would have to ask Marianne for a pair of scissors too. He had to cut his hair. He had to cut one of the reminders of what he was now. Away from sight, away from the mind.Plus, the length was annoying, the hair was always hanging inches away from his pte and Paul had to constantly put them back behind this shoulder.

  With a click of his forked tongue, he turned to the two women of the family.

  Seriously mom, Jeanne. How do girls deal with long hair ? We've been seated for less than fifteen minutes and it's already the seventh time I have to keep my bangs from falling into the-GAH!

  The son clenched his left fist and Jeanne chuckled at her brother's antics. As it turned out, Paul's bnk face was pretty funny combined with his voice, his only mean to carry emotions. Jeanne tapped lightly on his shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.

  In a more serious manner, she replied to her exasperated brother."Ponytail, mostly. But in your case, you wanted to cut off the hair at... shoulder length ? Is that right ? I don't remember if it's shoulder or nape-level..."

  Nape. Paul replied sharply before taking another bite of a comically disproportionate piece of meat. Matthias Pourfendeur watched in amazement as his son began tearing apart the muscle fibers of the cut.

  Realizing the amused stares of his family were directed at him, Paul quickly put back the chunk of meat back into his pte and fidgeted around.

  Emmm... I'm sorry. I forgot... After so long I... Kinda forgot table manners.

  Jeanne started wheezing out loud at her brother's shaky tone while their father handed him some handkerchiefs. In a purely curious manner, Marianne asked an innocent question she hoped wasn't too much of a sensitive topic.

  "Paul. I wonder. When you were... away in space. How did you manage to... eat ? I can only imagine that it was difficult to do most of the things you were used to, right ?"

  Ah... Well. It was pretty messy. First, there wasn't much food to eat. Whatever was worthy of being eaten was reserved to the important and the most powerful dragons. Basically if you weren't me or part of His inner circle, you had to rely on luck to even get scraps.From what I saw, f you were at the bottom of the hierarchy, if you didn't want your piece to be stolen by an opportunist, you had to be quick. Food is worth of fighting cws and fangs for in the dead space. The hunting grounds could be potential food sources, I think the Instincts that controlled me... raised this point... But The Horde already tried. And it didn't work.

  Jeanne intervened, with her mouth-half full of green beans and buttery mashed potato."So kind of a battle royale ? Isn't it very stupid ? Shouldn't the weaker ones eat too ? So that the whole lot develops ? Starving the majority of a species has never been a good survival strategy."

  ...What applies to Life... does not apply to The Horde.The Horde is the embodiment of chaos. They can take any shape, act however they want... because The Horde has no need to follow any universal principle about Life...Hyperion could very well engulf the Universe by Himself. He has no need for wyverns, or Sun Eater, or Discord, or even me...

  Hyperion has no need for me, a mate. But He got one still.

  The Horde acts as the pure desire to go against Life. They know They cannot die. They act as They want. They will only disappear when comes The end.The End all Life tries to avoid by eating, surviving, mating... He does all of that as mockery. Because of all that is completely useless. In The End.He expands The Horde, like Life tries to expand to avoid extinction. They eat to annihite, while Life eats to live. They colonize not to survive, but to kill.

  "Oh dear..." a worried Marianne muttered. "But what about the Stars ? They've come to help us against something. Is this what you're talking about ? This... Horde ? Can't the Stars stop your kidnappers ?"

  An exasperated groan coming from Jeanne's throat answered to the woman in her fifties and Paul rose an imaginary eyebrow.

  "Oh yeah, c'mon mom, we've had this discussion already. If literal godlike beings come to our world, one pgued with pollution, intentional mass-extinction and inequities, they have to be desperate. We were basically a lost cause until this Administrator or whatever sent mana to refuel the pnet's energy. And the worst was this constant taboo the Returnees and Pierre imposed on what they saw ! Now we've got living proof that it's not all roses ! We have Paul !"

  Jeanne stopped for a second to catch her breath before raising her voice again. "So please, stop blindly believing in the Stars ! Paul has said even more stuff when we were in their... secret base or something. It's NOT. GOOD !"

  Desperate... is a fitting term. Khkhkhkhkh... The stars lied when they promised us powers to stop what they called 'The Threat'. Powers to protect Earth from the Portals ? Certainly. Powers to protect Earth from The Horde ? Never in billions of years.Sister ? I assume that the stars... the administrator... and the system also told you the same things, right ? This CHARADE !

  The family could feel that Paul was pissed off. The arm-wings were back, his rexed posture had changed to a much more predatory one and the eyes were narrowed down on his sibling. To their parents, this was frightening. Right now, Paul carried the same vibe as a Xenomorph, hunching over a much smaller creature.

  Jeanne stood her ground, not quite looking at the eyes that were at this very instant, not Paul's, but still high enough to look unbothered.

  "Paul." she breathed in silently when the gaze returned to a softer one. "I know you feel deceived. Betrayed. And lost. You told me already. You don't trust the Stars to do their job. You don't trust the current forces of The Universe to stop Hyperion. But right now, I don't trust you either. If you're going to have outbursts like this again, you're pying in what I assume to be His paw. You're going to need help."

  I know that ! I know I need help to recim my Humanity. But I cannot stand these false gods ! The stars have promised powers to millions of worlds, just as civilized as ours, and even ones we consider sci-fi, to stop The Horde ! And what ?! The Hunting Grounds make up more than half of the Cosmos. They are failing ! They failed to fully protect the dimension where I trained. This should be a basic thing to do, how did they fail this ?!I saw Death. The inevitable End. if someone is pying right in Hyperion's paws... it's the whole Universe. I have said this already ! The stars downpys The Horde's power to a ridiculous extent ! And they KNOW this !

  The anger that had fred up dwindled, repced by a much colder tone of suspicion. T

  At least... you don't seem to be a brainwashed fool who blindly follows them, sister... Who is the star who sponsors you ? Tell me...Paul's feminine face inched dangerously close to Jeanne's own, eyes sharp and expectant, baring his fangs and making a low hissing sound.

  But what was that you said ? About a taboo... What exactly is this taboo ?

  Jeanne was at loss for words. In her outburst, things that were supposed to be unsaid had been said. Would the followers of the Shade send punishment ? Jeanne hoped not. On the other hand... Paul wasn't looking like Paul right now. She hated to admit it but now she was scared. There was something more gazing upon her at this very instant.

  Her mind went in overdrive. Should she breach the taboo ? And risk to have her mind erased by the Shade ? Or risk angering her brother even more ? What were her options ?

  Jeanne ! Names ! I want names, now ! Paul growled. Who imposed such a taboo ? And why ?

  Jeanne gnced at their parents. Thank god they had exited the house with the sigh she gave. If things were to turn ugly...

  "All of them." the young woman finally answered as confidently as she could. "They wanted secrecy about the st moments in the Administrator's reality. Secrecy about what creatures were out there. In space. They wanted to keep information about the Reptilzs and The Holrde away from the public."

  I- See... Under the stars' orders... ? Or was it their own decision ? Paul asked, mostly to himself.Don't answer Jeanne. I am sorry about these outbursts. I cannot help it for now. But I will need to have a few word. With my former comrades.

  Paul's silhouette opened the bay window, letting the cold air of the evening enter the house. He stepped outside and jumped off the sun room ptform.

  Paul's skull twisted and took a much more triangur shape. The jawline thickened and fangs sprouted from the pale grey gum. The eyes infted and started shining a deep purple light.Gone were the grayish skin and the hair-bangs. The skin was darkening, leaving this hypnotizing obsidian bck. The hair was fusing and curling around the growing horns. The slender body widened and dark mist erupted from it, slowly forming more wing membrane, more wingspan, more hindlegs muscle. More back and tail-spikes.

  There was no more feminine figure Paul hated. Only the dreaded form Jeanne had seen hours ago. And although it was much smaller, Paul's body was still big enough cover half of the house with his arm-wings.

  "What are you doing ?!" Jeanne screamed out as she too, stormed off the house. Even though this was one of the rare retively unpoputed area of Paris, people could still see with public lighting.

  The dragon didn't even pay her attention. With a fp of its wings, it took off and headed who-knew-where.

  At the chaotic sight, Jeanne suddenly remembered a few words she had two years ago with Leo the Spearfme.

  ...

  "-hat's this Holrde like ? What's the big deal with them, Leader ?"

  "They are... aberrations of existence. They break every rule of biology we know of. Maya the Sky Seer told me that. They shouldn't exist. Malformed, disfigured, uneven number of limbs, unable to reproduce or digest. No internal organs, no bodily fluids... Nothing. Not even a brain.Aaron the Empyrean Mage said that The Holrde was... anti-life incarnate."

  "Pulse cannons #98 destroyed ! All primary weapon systems down Admiral ! I repeat-"

  "Kinetic shields overloade-"

  "Hull breached ! We've lost contact with Titanus Squadron !"

  "Skybreach all KIA ! We don't have much more to fend of-"

  "Die !!! For Karfa ! You monste- HAAAAGR-"

  SKREEEEEE-

  ...

  "Admiral... What do we do ?"

  "..."

  "Admiral... ? The kinetic shield is down. These creatures are scraping the hull..."

  "The main hangar is done for ! They broke in ! Admi-"

  "Admiral. It's over."

  "Admi-----"

  How did things turn out like this ? How did the mighty Karfan fleet go from a thousand space-faring vessels to... a dozen spaceships on the verge of destruction ? The most advanced fleet of the surrounding two sun-systems.

  What were those things ? The beings who turned the entire fleet into scrap metals in a mere system-day ? How could something biological achieve space-warping ? How could they not care about their kin ? How could they not fear getting bsted to atoms by pulse cannons ? How could their sheer numbers overwhelm kinetic shields ? How many were there ?

  What was this... Horde ?

  "-ral ! What should we do ?"

  "..." Activate Fissure Protocol for all remaining vessels." the tired voice of an old individual finally replied to his underlings. "Detonate every ship we have left. Let's hope we take out as many as we can."

  "... Understood."

  "Reying command-"

  Admiral Karfa 48 looked one st time at his crewmates. The proud Karfan Dwarves. Together, they would die honorably. As the st of their kin.

  Do you want to live ? To see your kin thriving again ?

  What ?! Who was talking ?

  Have no fear, Karfans. I wish to help you. I am The Administrator. An overseer of the Universe.I wish to aid you, by transporting your fleet far away from here. Near a pnet that needs your technology.

  "A joke ? A cruel joke..."

  It is not, Admiral Karfa 48. I too wish for the destruction of the beings before you.And alone, I am not. The gods of the Universe have been battling this threat for a long time by now.

  "Gods... do not exist !" the tired voice snapped.

  ... I will transport you. In exchange, we only wish for you to aid another civilization to develop further.

  As Admiral Karfa 48 shielded his eyes from a blinding white light, the scenery outside of his vessel shifted. The debris and corpses of other Dwarves were gone. Instead, cold and empty space surrounded the eleven remaining vessel of the fleet.

  "What the- So it wasn't a joke ?"

  The crewmates stared at each other incredulously, not believing what just happened.

  "Admiral ! A pnet suitable for life to develop has been found ! It's three light years away from our current location !"

  "In that case, forwards ! We need to repay this God !" the old voice shouted, with newfound hope in the man's tone.

  Take your time. Discord. You have no need for haste. You know where to go. You know what to do.Go, so that-

  - I can propagate Discord in the minds and hearts of Life.

  Exactly.

  As you wish. And I will take a few snacks along the way.

  As I said. Take. Your. Time.Let us give an illusion of... Hope.

  Kehehe-

  Feast. My children. Erase this Life that hides in cradles of metal.