Archer closed the door to his apartment as he went in. He walked over to his desk and sat down on his swivel chair with a deep sigh. He simply sat there in silence for a few moments before looking up at nothing.
"You can come out now." Archer said with a smile.
"Huh?" A girl's voice said surprised.
"How does he keep doing that?" Another one said.
A moment later Sariel and Mariel, the twin goddesses, materialized from thin air and stood in the middle of the room. The two of them looked at him in amazement.
"When did you notice us?" Sariel asked.
"Oh, not long, only when I reached the street to the apartment." Archer said with a shrug.
"So the entire time we started following you." Mariel muttered to herself sounding disappointed that they'd been spotted.
"Well, I was taught to spot people trying to sneak around." Archer said with a shrug, "Helps that I suspected that you would try to keep tabs on me."
"At least that means we made the right choice." Mariel muttered, "So how was your first day?"
"Interesting. Everything went normal on your end?" Archer answered.
"Um, no. Not quite." Sariel said as she seemed to check her phone, "So-"
"Hold it." Archer said cutting her off, "No spoilers."
"But it's not what we were expecting!" Sariel exclaimed.
"And if you tell me any more people might take issue with you telling me too much you will get in trouble right?" Archer said.
"How do you know that?" Sariel said surprised.
"Your sister tried earlier in secret."
"Mariel! You could've been punished for telling him!" Sariel said looking at her twin in horror.
"You were trying to tell him right now!"
"That's only because things have changed!"
"Hey, I'm still here." Archer said interrupting the two, "I recommend not accidentally telling me anything you're not supposed to."
"It's not fair though. Other people would know what will happen." Sariel complained.
"Because they have different circumstances and better backing. We're limited." Mariel reminded her.
"Because most of them are too stubborn to listen."
"I don't think this is a conversation that should involve me." Archer reminded them, "Look, I understand that you two are desperate to save the world. But I don't think you'll be allowed to hold me by the hand when doing so."
"It's just frustrating when we know the answers to most of these things." Sariel said.
"Are you allowed to tell me why you can warn of impending doom, but not go into detail?"
"It's because of a deal made with the dark gods." Mariel explained.
"You have a deal with the dark gods?"
"It's a treaty made so that we don't leave Gaia a lifeless wasteland through war. We allow them to try and conquer the world and we set up defences, in the form of people like you."
"You're happy with this deal?" Archer said tapping his chin.
"Better than mass genocide." Sariel said with a shrug.
"I see. Are you allowed to verify a few of my questions?" Archer asked changing the subject.
"Depends on how deep you go."
"Depending on the situation, will you give me warnings of things to come?"
"Yes." They said in unison.
"Am I right to say that something is happening with this Luna girl?"
"Yes."
"Do you know about the other WDO agent?"
"Uh, no." They said looking surprised, "There's another agent?" Sariel asked.
"Damn." Archer said snapping his fingers in frustration, "Yeah, they sent one here a few years ago to watch the academy. They never told me who it was though. I'll figure that out later then." He mumbled the last part to himself.
"I guess there is no reason to linger around here then." Mariel said, "Archer, please be careful when you tackle this. Lots of people can be in trouble if you aren't careful."
"Good to know that you two beauties are looking out for me." Archer said flashing a playful grin at the two.
"!!!" Sariel said going beet red.
"Hey! This is strictly a business relationship! Do you understand? We aren't doing this because we think you're cute!" Mariel said looking extremely flustered.
"Hey you think I'm cute!" Archer said leaning back in his chair.
"Stop putting words in my mouth!" She shouted as the two disappeared.
"That was fun." Archer said as he stayed in his position for a moment longer before leaning back towards his desk, "About that possession."
***
As Archer was left alone back on Gaia. Sariel and Mariel had time to discuss among themselves what had happened in just the first day.
"So all the events for Ran and the others are going according to hand." Sariel said.
"Yes, Ran and his friends are gathered as normal. Sariel, is he really going to have to lose after training for an entire month?" Mariel asked as if hoping that Sariel would have some say in the matter.
"We've seen it happen before Mariel. Ran just won't have enough time to get strong enough. But don't forget the loss will drive Ran to better things." Sariel said trying to sound hopeful.
"But we both know that the loss leads him to lose at least a month's worth of progress trying to make his way back."
"It's not going to help to fret. The others already decided that this would be the course to take. It's not just Ran that will be affected by the loss, others as well, they will change thanks to this."
"That hasn't helped before."
"No." Sariel admitted, "But don't forget Vol, Mirielis, and others are also introducing people, maybe those champions will affect things. Archer seems to be busy dealing with the possession."
"Which brings us to the other issue. The possession." Mariel reminded her.
"Right, that wasn't supposed to happen until after the fight between Ran and the D rank." Sariel said nodding her head.
"Because Ran and the others are supposed to deal with the possession. So why is the possession occurring now?"
"… I think it's because of Archer."
"What?"
"Originally WDO sends someone over as an A rank. They came from the other side of the world as a high-ranking student, Trinity Academy gave them special treatment."
Mariel's eyes widened, "Right they have a special bus to pick them up."
"Archer an F-rank didn't get the ride, so the bus would not have needed to take a detour to pick him up. Which meant that the students on the bus arrived at school earlier."
"You think that change of just a few minutes would cause that?" Mariel asked sounding unconvinced.
"It's the only major change." Sariel said with a shrug, not looking very convinced either.
"Do we just wait for things to clear a bit then?"
"I suppose we don't have much choice."
***
09/02/3122 YDB – September 2nd, 3122
The first thing that snapped Archer out of his concentration was the sound of his alarm. Confused he rolled over to his bedside table and grabbed his charging phone. Opening it he checked the time, it was time for him to go to school.
"Oh, I stayed up too late. That explains the exhaustion." Archer said as he shut off the alarm, "That's bad… I'll figure out a time to catch up on it." He decided as he got up and went to check the fridge.
"Right. Never got groceries." Archer remembered, "Also didn't have dinner." Archer said with a sigh, "Living by yourself, you're doing great Archer."
Archer thought for a moment, he remembered that there were a few restaurants and convenience stores on the way over to the academy. He could pick up something on the way, also next week was when the academy started serving breakfast, so this concern only needed to last a week.
"Alright." Archer said as he grabbed his stuff and made his way outside, "Didn't even shower."
***
Archer downed his loaf of bread that he had quickly bought at a local bakery. If nothing else this city had some amazing variety of stores. As he stuffed himself he made a mental note of priorities.
First, buy groceries after school. Second, figure out what is possessing that Luna. Third keep an eye out on the others. Especially that Ran. Archer thought as he walked forward towards the school gates.
There standing at the front gate much like yesterday was that student monitor Esme, along with her was another different monitor from yesterday. He stifled a yawn before approaching the main gate.
"Make sure to keep the tie." Esme said.
"Fine! Happy?" The student asked looking exasperated as he tied his tie on properly.
"Good. Keep to regulations." Esme said nodding her head in approval.
"Whatever." The student said shaking his head as Archer took his place in front of Esme.
"Name." Esme said head down staring at her clipboard before looking up, "Oh. It's you."
"Oh, hello there. It's pleasant to see you again." Archer said as he dug out his wallet containing his ID and showed it to her.
"You're faster this time." She commented as she wrote something down, "You may enter."
"Your friends changed." Archer noted the different person standing opposite her.
"Yes. The others change according to schedule."
"But not you. You take the morning attendance all the time."
"Yes, I'm planning on doing so my entire time at Trinity Academy." She said puffing her chest up proudly, "As head of the first-year student disciplinary club, it is my duty to make sure that those who enter the school meet the requirements."
"Oh, well I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow." Archer said as he walked through the gates. Didn't even mind that I was an F rank. He thought as he yawned.
As he neared the door inside the building he heard his phone ring. Pulling it out he accepted the call, "Hello, hello." Archer said as he let out another involuntary yawn.
"You sound tired." A friendly, familiar female voice said.
"Zoe! Good to hear from you." Archer said. Zoe Macintosh was one of the WDO's newly minted operators. Operator's job was to communicate with on-field agents to aid them in their missions.
"We're on the job Archer. It's Soothsayer-2." She said.
"You're my operator?' Archer said surprised, "Aren't you on the other side of the world? Isn't there like a twelve-hour difference?"
"Actually I've been transferred to an office right in the capital of Castor." She replied.
"You're in the country? You're in the Noak too? When?" Archer said walking through the halls and to his class.
"When I heard you took the position. I couldn't let the three-headed monster run loose in a foreign country. Who knows what damage you would cause, especially with the prospect of butting heads with those S ranks." She teased.
"I'm not that bad." Archer said as he opened up his locker and placed a book into it from his backpack.
"Sure you aren't. Anyways, I got some info on that girl you wanted. Sending them to you now." She said as Archer got a notification.
"Thanks. By the way, since you're helping me now could you research the changes that school has gone through in regard to uniforms?"
"No problem. May I ask why?"
"Have a bit of a hunch."
"Sure, good luck hunting." She said before hanging up.
Archer put his phone back into his pocket before continuing to class.
***
The gods, Vol, Mirielis, and Xylos sat themselves inside a bar, drinking and talking. The new timeline had just begun and they were busy conversing about their selected champions.
"So Vol. Any reason why you chose your champion anyways? Dominic?" Xylos asked as he took a swig from his lager.
"The boy is driven. What more do I have to say? He's shown to be dangerous." Vold said taking a sip from his fruity cocktail through the straw.
"But what did you do to convince him?" Mirielis asked as she took a sip of her rum.
"The only thing that matters to him. He would have the power to protect his precious sister as long as he accepted my pact."
"You gave him some of your own power? Bold." Xylos complimented.
"What can I say? It's our last chance. Might as well go all out." Vol said with a shrug, "But you two took a far more interesting route."
"Yes. Ours are similar, but a bit different are they not?" Mirielis said.
"Yes, I gave Even Case some memories of previous timelines. He had so much potential, but his low rank caused him so many problems. Hopefully with this extra knowledge, he'll be able to capitalize on more opportunities." Xylos said nodding his head, "You though Mirielis, I'm not too sure."
"Hey. What's wrong with my pick?"
"Well, you took the soul of someone from another planet. What was it? Earth?"
"Yes. The boy Petyr played a game version of what happens at Trinity Academy before being brought here."
"A game version?" Xylos said surprised, "That's even better. He would know information usually impossible to know."
"Yes, it's a shame that he was only allowed to know what happens in the first two years however."
"How does that work?"
"I wasn't allowed to pick someone with all three years of knowledge. So I found a world where a version of this world was made into a video game series. Unfortunately each game was only a single school year and only two were released before the series got cancelled."
"Wait, cancelled? Was the story not interesting?" Vol asked can't quite believing it.
"No, that's not the reason. It was simply poor gameplay and bad management." Mirielis said with a shrug.
"Shame. Still, two years' worth of knowledge is a lot of information to have." Vol said.
"Yes not to mention he has a few extra abilities thanks to it. Our champions should have more than enough knowledge for the timeline of events that occur." Mirielis said nodding her head.
"It helps that we know everything that's going to happen. To the future." Xylos said raising his glass.
"Indeed." The two agreed as they all clinked their glasses together.