Tales From The Kronos

Inside the leader's office, the usual group gave their mission report. It wasn't anything special, just a classic mission. On the screen, the leader listened carefully to their report. It was hard to know what she was truly thinking, as the mask on her face blocked all expressions she could have.

"I'm glad that nothing bad happened today too. You are free for today. Also Neige... Can you come here for a minute?"

"Alright, I'll come directly."

Even despite the mask, it was apparent that she was happy to see Neige. She gave her farewell, and the screen displaying her turned off.

The three friends left the room, but this time, Silva seemed to not feel as happy as usual.

"Why does she want to see you? I thought we would spend time together..."

Neige caressed her hair and gave her a smile that she couldn't see.

"It's fine, it probably won't take longer than an hour. I'll join you after."

The group was about to split but froze when they heard a cat meowing next to them. Neige and Kairo stepped away from it, pointing at the creature with their firearms.

"What is that? Is that a monster?" Neige was visibly scared of the potential threat it opposed, holding his weapon tightly. He was in shock when he saw Silva approaching it and taking it in her arms.

"I didn't know there was a cat here, I always wanted to get one!"

"A... Cat?" Kairo asked curiously "What's that?"

"You never heard of it? It's like a cute pet that people keep. There were a lot of them in my home world."

Neige examined the cat from closer. His gun was now pointed away from the cat, but still in his hand.

"So... It's not dangerous?"

"Of course not, I wonder what's his name."

Neige examined the collar, the name of the cat was written on it, but he was too scared to get too close and tried reading it from far away.

"Cinna... Mon. I think his name is Cinnamon. I wonder where it comes from."

"Maybe that's what the leader wants to tell you?" Said Silva while caressing the cat that only wished to get away from her arms.

"I guess we'll see, I'll tell you later. In the meantime... Be careful with this thing."

"His name is Cinnamon!"

Neige went away from his friends, still looking behind to make sure that the creature wouldn't attack him from behind.

Neige went into his leader's room. She seemed embarrassed about something, like she made a mistake of some kind. When she saw him enter, she immediately greeted him cheerfully.

"Neige! You know that you're the best friend ever, right?"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing."

Neige looked at her knowing full well that something happened. The leader knew that she couldn't hide her mistake, and eventually revealed what she did.

"So you remember the rule about not touching the book? Well... Now we have a cat!"

"You broke the rules... For that?" Neige said with a disappointed tone.

"Well, I thought that if I created life with the book, nothing bad would happen. I even made the most innocent creature I could find, just to make sure. And it worked, do you realize Neige!"

"All I realize is that you're going too far, that wasn't what we agreed on, Polyetta."

The woman looked a bit sad, trying to dodge her friend's gaze in shame.

"I'm sorry, but imagine, we could make a perfect soldier! He would be able to save you if anything bad happened!"

Neige let out a sigh and shook his head, visibly disagreeing.

"Just... Don't do anything else. Everything is fine for now, I promise. We really don't need help, and you should see Silva, she's really doing a great job. With her and Kairo, nothing bad can happen."

"I hope you're right."

Polyetta still looked worried despite the attempt of her friend. Neige took her in her arm for a moment, before leaving.

"We'll talk more about it later, I was supposed to hang out with the others. Don't you want to come?"

"No thanks."

"Alright, and just to make sure... The cat, he's not dangerous?"

The woman chuckled a bit, before waving softly at Neige.

"Don't worry, I made sure nothing bad would happen."

Neige nodded his head and left the room. The woman waited for a few minutes and locked the door once she made sure he was away. She opened the wardrobe in her room, where the body of a sleeping girl with long black hair was lying there.

"I guess I can't keep her on the ship anymore..."

Polyetta looked in the book for a world where she could put her. Maybe Neige was right, it wasn't a good idea to play God. She flipped the pages to search for a world where she could live a peaceful life, but she stopped when she saw something horrible written on the pages.

"The Goddess of time took her icy sword, piercing Neige's heart. His lifeless body fell on the ground, as his friend desperately tried to heal him."

She knew that it was another Neige and that it had nothing to do with the one she knew. but she couldn't stop imagining the horrible things that could happen to him if she did nothing. She looked once more at the girl in her wardrobe with hesitation. Images of Neige being in danger crossed her mind. She took a while, but once she made her choice, she brought the girl to her bed and woke her up. Polyetta went to the page where she wrote about the girl. It was empty and only contained the basic information needed. The girl woke up with a tired look and looked around the room with confusion.

"Where... Am I?"

"Don't worry about it, I think we should work on who you are for now."

The girl looked at Polyetta and then looked at herself. She tried to think but couldn't remember a thing about her.

"Who... I am?"

The woman nodded her head and started writing in the book.

"So first you need a name. What about... Yukiko? Isn't it cute?"

"It sounds weird."

Polyetta took a slight offense on the girl's statement but searched for another name.

"What about... Savior? It's what you'll be after all!"

"But it's not a name, it's a word."

"Okay smartass, what about..." Polyetta looked around the room and stumbled on one of Neige's books. It was about a strange language, the woman took it and read a few pages before finding a decent name "Sepide?"

The girl thought for a while and nodded her head. Polyetta seemed surprised but wrote the name on the book.

"I guess it's fine, and the last name... I suppose I'm kind of a mother to you, so you'll get mine. Sepide Faith, how does it sound?"

"I enjoy it." Sepide said with a blank face.

"I'll have to work on your feelings one day. Anyway, you are a soldier made for battle. Your only goal is to protect your friends, no matter the cost. If your friends are about to die, sacrifice your life to save them, especially for Neige."

The leader wrote the rules about the girl in the book. She also wrote about her abilities but didn't want to make her too strong so she wouldn't look suspicious. Polyetta was already playing a dangerous game and didn't intend to take more risks.

"So you'll have the same skills as me, Neige, Silva, and Kairo. You should be super strong now!"

"Who are those people?" The girl asked, confused.

"It doesn't matter... I still need to do a few more things."

As she wrote, she realized that if Sepide rebelled, she wouldn't be able to be stopped. She thought for a moment to find a solution and finally managed to find a temporary one.

"So you'll obey every order that starts with 'This is your new mission, do you understand?'"

"Why are you telling me all of that?" Sepide asked, with a feeling of dread in her eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll remove the memories of this conversation from your head. It just helps me to think out loud. So now, I'll plunge you into a deep sleep. I guess I'd need to raise you and teach you the world... But for now, it's time to dream for a long time. I heard that in some worlds, parent let the TV raise their kids, it's not that different."

After trying so hard to make the best soldier to protect Neige, the leader was suddenly taken by a feeling of exhaustion. She still wasn't sure it was a good idea but she had no other choice for now. She gently kissed Sepide's forehead and gave her one last smile.

"Good night Sepide. It may be the last time you see me, but if the day comes, I'll wake you up. You'll be able to follow your purpose, you'll be able to protect Neige. You'll be a good girl, and listen to every of my orders, alright?"

Sepide tried to answer, but she started to get sleepy suddenly. Her vision blurred, and she fell into a deep slumber. The last thing she saw was the mask of her mother in front of her.