Queen Teresa looked down at the three children from her elevated throne. "So you must be the three Otherworlders he spoke of."

  The rays of sunshine peered through the ornate glass windows behind her, giving her an aura of radiance. Teresa had purple eyes, long black hair that draped over her shoulders and to her mid-back, and a radiant yet slightly oppressive aura.

  She wore a long-sleeved black dress that hugged her body nicely. There were small patterns around the waist and shoulder to arm areas. On her ears, she had crystalline earrings, and around her neck, a nice necklace with a purple gem in its socket.

  Her skin was fair and flawless, as if granted something by the divine themselves. "Tell me your names, little ones."

  "My name is Shadow," Shadow said, motioning over to Alyssa. "This is my little sister Alyssa." He then pointed to Flame. "That's Flame."

  Intel would gaze at the three. Currently, he and Neolia were 15 years old. "There's something special about these three. Are you guys perhaps mages or Route Walkers?"

  "A what?" Flame tilted his head, unsure of what the second one was. Even after all the people he consumed, he couldn't find any real knowledge on Route Walkers.

  "Route Walkers are people who have absorbed Sources, gaining a Route. Which is pretty difficult to explain to someone who hasn't heard of one before. No two people can have the same Route. It turns into a kind of system once obtained. You receive quests, objectives, and even level up.

  "But unless you're someone like Neolia, systems only last for a month at most. After that, you'll only get occasional notifications once you've attained a new Route of ability. Routes have different aspects to them and even sub-routes, but that's for you to find out."

  Flame and Shadow blinked.

  "So, tell me, Neolia," Queen Teresa spoke as she looked down at the three, then looked at Neolia, who was to her left. "What're the potential of these three?"

  -Neolia's POV-

  I sighed, using [Scan] to determine how strong these three were and at least gauge their potential.

  Firstly, I scanned Shadow.

  [Shadow]

  [Age: 13]

  [Mana?: No]

  [Route: None]

  [Ability: Shadow Conjuration and Manipulation.]

  [Level (as put into your measure of analyzing strength): 8.]

  [Alignment: Neutral-Pure]

  [Potential: SSS]

  [Soul Color: Black with white outline]

  I stared at his stat overview, confused about various things. First of all, he had no last name, which was odd considering most did. Not only that, how does he have abilities without having mana or a route? Is he an Anomaly like Intel and me?

  His race, not species, isn't displayed either. Player has never failed to display something before... That's it, I'm scanning to see if he's an Anomaly.

  [Scanning... ERROR!]

  Definitely an Anomaly. Let me scan the little girl.

  [Alyssa]

  [Age: 7]

  [Mana?: No.]

  [Route: None.]

  [Ability: Opposite Wishes.]

  [Level: 3]

  [Alignment: Pure]

  [Potential: SSS+]

  [Soul Color: Pink]

  [Scanning for anomalies... ERROR!]

  "She's an Anomaly too... Alright then. What about the boy?"

  She then scanned Flame; however, all that came up were errors.

  [Source Timeline not found.]

  "What the hell does that mean?!" Neolia yelled aloud. Covering her mouth once she realizes, now embarrassed. "Ahem... Anyway, their potential is real high up there."

  Queen Teresa nodded, clearing her throat. "You two will be put under Neolia and Intel. Though they are only slightly older, they have proven their usefulness."

  "Okay." Intel spoke, waving his hand slightly. "Come on now, kids." He turned around, starting to walk to the large oak doors to the left. As they walked through, Shadow and Alyssa looked around in awe, as they had never seen such a lavish corridor before.

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  A red carpet stretched down the hallway as doors and hallways would either connect or branch off to other parts of the castle. Flame didn't seem all that impressed, however. After all, he was royalty, and he was used to such lavish things until his family decided to backstab him.

  Neolia, ever so curious about Flame, spun around and smiled at him. "So! Uhm, what's up with you? What's your story?"

  Flame looked at her, an interface popping up on her screen.

  [Flame Apollyon]

  [Age: 13]

  [Mana?: No]

  [Route: None]

  [Ability: Devouring Flames]

  [Potential: ???]

  "Flame Apollyon, is it? Interesting." Neolia said as they walked into a large room with a circular table.

  "I never told you my last name." Flame said, his eyes narrowing.

  "It's part of my ability. You're not the first one to question me like that." Neolia said, her gaze shifting forward. "Since we're alone, I can tell you this. All five of us are Anomalies."

  "What are those?" Alyssa asked, Intel flicking his glasses to adjust them.

  "Anomalies are beings that aren't connected to anything that would give them power. For instance, all mages draw mana from The Source to perform magic. However, an anomaly could use magic without even drawing from that source." He spoke with a sense of clarity.

  His emerald green eyes were serious, yet dull. "I assume I'm an Anomaly due to my knowledge. I've even built a device to monitor timelines. Speaking of which, all of you are here for that specific reason."

  Flame looked at Intel, stopping in his tracks. "You're the one who summoned Goren to us, aren't you?" His hands flickered with Azure Flames. "Well, that deserves a punishment, doesn't it?"

  Neolia looked at Flame with piqued interest. "You wanna have a little spar?"

  "Flame, think rationally! We just met these people, and you're trying to kill them!" Shadow said, as Alyssa nodded in agreement.

  Neolia raised her hand, a small grin playing on her face. "It's okay, I'll allow it. Follow me." She began to lead them to a specific room, the sound of weapons clinking and clashing coming from the other side of the door.

  "We'll spar in here. Others will watch." Intel said, opening the door. "Everybody clear the area."

  The soldiers sparring and training notice the five walk in, getting nervous once they see Neolia specifically. They cleared the training area, which was about 15 meters long and 10 meters wide.

  Intel stood on the opposite side of Flame, who had his arms crossed. Neolia stood outside of the sparring area between the two. "Alright. Listen, no killing. No playing dirty, and have fun!" She created pompoms that were blue and purple in color.

  "Ready, set, GO!" She swung her left hand down.

  However, neither of them made a move. The room itself held its breath as it seemed they were examining each other.

  -Intel's POV-

  This kid is already unhinged, I can tell. Are the anomalous effects that strong on him? He's standing about 14 meters from me, and he's keeping that same stance.

  I watched his legs spread slightly, with the left slightly behind the right. That's his starting foot.

  I watched as he uncrossed his arms, the blue flames reigniting. Here he comes.

  I blinked, and he was already in the air, a flaming claw inches from my face. However, I wasn’t fazed. After all, Atombots are my latest invention, granted it did require some testing to stabilize the atoms they attach. His hit never connected to me, and in fact, it couldn’t press any further.

  Flame seemed confused, raising an eyebrow at the sight. “Interesting,” he said as he backed off. “Are you a mage? Mana barriers?”

  I chuckled, “Dude, this is hardly anything. I don't have mana, nor magic. I'm just innovative, you could say." I crossed my arms as my ego was enticed.

  "I see." Flame chuckled, extending a hand. I watched a different color of fire shoot out. It turned into a maw, which gave me an eerie feeling, and I instinctively backed up.

  I then heard my AI assistant speak in my head as the maw clamped down mere inches from my face. [Atombots Destroyed. Rebuilding...]

  "No way..." I thought as I quickly assessed what had just happened. It didn't take me long to deduce it, but those flames... Whatever they are, they are dangerous.

  "Flames that are similar to the Gluttony Sin Route. Except something is off about them. Unlike Gluttony, who does it out of overindulgence, your flames do it out of hunger for power." I had deduced how these flames worked, at least partially.

  Flame didn't say anything. The guards watched in a stunned silence. Flame then spoke after a few seconds.

  "What do you mean we were meant to be here? Or we were here for a specific reason, whatever you said." Flame began to circle me.

  "I remember what you said about a man named Goren. I have no idea who that is. All anomalies are bound to meet each other at one point. Not by fate as some would believe, as we aren't bound by such a concept. We are bound by each other. It's a ruthless game when you're an Anomaly." I said as I continued to stand straight.

  "My timeline monitoring device was going haywire not long ago. While I examined it, it came from a timeline that you, Shadow, and Alyssa carry the signature of. When something entered your timeline, it snapped, like a twig being stepped on. So, not only whatever happened altered your future... It broke specifically at the time when you met Shadow." I tried to explain it the best way I could.

  Flame's Azure Flames faded as he just stood there, confused and perplexed. For goodness sake, he lived in a medieval world; he had no idea what timelines were.

  -Third Person POV-

  Intel and Neolia looked at each other before sighing. "Alright. Let's just end the fight; we'll explain it to you in better terms later." Neolia said, making the pom-poms disappear.

  ---

  "This slimy lad... I swear he was around here!" A guard spoke as he and his squad continued to search for the runaway bandit.

  "Sir, come look at this." Another guard called, causing the first one to walk over.

  They found a large hole with a strange glow, like flickering faintly. "Huh, must be a bonfire—"

  As if on cue, the glow began to brighten until a bright orange figure blurred past them. Embers fell from a trail left behind by the beast, who soon let out a deafening screech. The bodies of the soldiers began to heat up and burst into flames; they didn't get to scream as they were transforming into flaming creatures.

  Their armor had either melted away or had been simply grafted to them, becoming part of their new flaming forms.

  The creature, now revealed to be a burning phoenix, opened its beak and charged a ball of orangish blue energy. It fired with extreme force, causing a shockwave to shoot out from the initial firing. It had shot a beam that the Phoenix then dragged across the ground horizontally. This caused a string of massive explosions to follow the beam's path.

  With only the drive of animalistic instinct to guide it, it makes its way toward the Teilith Empire.