"Bandits, ten o'clock!"

"Got em! Jade, on your six!"

"Thanks for the warning. Everyone get to cover!"

"So anyone mind refreshing my memory as to what's going on right now?" I asked, leaning out of cover and letting an arrow fly into an oncoming bandit.

"The west gate entrance has been severely damaged in their last attack, we're working on repairs, but we need to buy them time." Said Violet, wiping some blood off his katana. "I'm surprised that they still have this much men left…"

"It's not the same faction." Said Gwyn, spinning his axe in his hand. "These are more barbaric in nature than the last one."

"Yeah, they don't really seem to have a plan of attack…" I said, biting my bottom lip. "They are somewhat smart, but only enough to the point where they knew to wait for our defenses here were lower than normal."

"Which reminds me, why did you insist that we only have US protect this area!?" Asked Nero, as an arrow flew overhead.

"Well, if we reroute guards from other sections to this one, those other sections will be a lot less defended." I said. "What's worse than having one weak area."

"Having more than one." Said Jade.

"Exactly." I said, peeking over cover and letting another arrow launch. "Come on, we got stuff to take care of."

It's been 3 months since we took down Retron. All has been relatively peaceful. At least, it was about as peaceful as it normally was in this time period.

Rei had finally started making her nation, one which she had started calling Tari. She currently had two oracles, Croire and myself.

Let me tell you, I had to honestly fight for my current position. It wasn't a fun time.

In a way, I was the angel on Rei's shoulder, and Croire was the devil on her other.

Anyways, things have been moving along steadily as of late. This kind of bandit attack wasn't really the norm anymore.

Though I DO question why Rei had thought it a good idea to build her nation atop of the camp that Retron was defeated in. Probably something sentimental about it, that, or it was just because it was where she became a CPU.

Anyways, I won't bore you with the fight scene, instead let's rewind to when we first met Croire.

"I however, do." Said a new voice, as we all turned to the source, finding a small girl in black clothes floating on top of a black book.

"...F*ck." I said, looking at who I could only assume to be Croire.

"No. No. NO. And SO MUCH NO NOPE!" I shouted, aiming my Magnum at the black clothed fairy.

"Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa!" Criore shouted, as she backed up.

"You, why are you here, EXPLAIN!" I shouted, aiming my M6 at the fairy.

"Hey, can someone put the attack dog on a leash?" Asked Croire.

"Attack dog-!?" I began, before being cut off.

"Hey there, my name's Croire." Said Croire.

"...Okay." Said Violet, putting his hand on the top of my gun, lowering it. "So, why are you even here?"

Croire points a thumb at Rei. "She's why."

"Me?" Rei asked.

"...Alright, enlighten us." I said, putting my Magnum away while continuing my glare.

"I'm here because she, just became a CPU." Said Croire.

"...So what, you've been summoned to become her Oracle?" I asked, as everyone turned to look at me.

"...You're surprisingly knowledgeable." Said Croire.

"Was I not supposed to be?" I asked.

"...Okay, can someone explain what's going on?" Asked Nero.

"An Oracle is sorta like a CPU's mentor of sorts. Well, it's different." I said. "Being an Oracle, you are a CPU's right hand man, or fairy."

"Care to go into more detail? You seem to know more than anyone else here." Said Croire. "Which is good, because it's a pain in the *ss for me to say it all anyways."

"As an Oracle, their job is to guide a new CPU through their tasks, showing them the ropes and teaching them. Eventually, the Oracle takes a more backstreet role and mainly helps with other things."

"Hmm, you know your stuff." Said Croire. "While I would have worded it differently, that's the summary version."

"...Okay, but what exactly do I do?" Asked Rei, as me and Croire turned to the CPU. "You keep saying Oracle, or mentor, but… to what?"

"...Rei, what did I tell you about the memory?" I asked.

"..." Rei thought on this for a second. "In my time, she was the goddess of Tari, the nation founded before all others…"

"That's it." I said.

"Your time?" Asked Croire, looking at me funny.

"That's right. I'm from the far off future, where the events here are a distant legend, almost no one bothers to remember." I said. "And, I'm here to be her Oracle."

"I'm sorry, but YOU?" Asked Croire, looking at me. "You're hardly qualified!"

"Am I?" I asked. "The role of the Oracle is to guide their CPU to becoming the best goddess they can be for their people. Which, may not be the best thing, considering the last time I check, your moral compass, was a f*cking roulette wheel!"

"Alright then, time traveler, how about you tell me how she even builds her nation?" Asked Croire. "How does she start?"

"..." I remained quite.

"You may have good intentions, but you don't know anything above the tiny basics." Said Croire.

"...You're right." I said, before turning to Rei. "Sorry, I've been speaking for you. Look, Croire… can be help to getting your nation started. However, I wouldn't listen to ALL of the advice she'd give."

Rei just looked between us, before sighing.

"Bryce! Stop having a flashback and help us!" Shouted Violet, as I ducked just in time as an arrow flew over my head.

"Alright alright!" I said, slinging my bow and arrow across my back. "...Well… no time better than now."

I grabbed hold of the hilt of a sword that was resting on my back, before swinging the weapon in front of me. A purple mechanical sword of sorts resting at my side. (The sword in question is the sword from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I believe it's called the Aegis, but apparently no one is calling it that so…)

I looked over the look of the weapon, getting a good grip on it.. I had someone in town re-purpose my hardlight hidden blade into this sword here. I hadn't had a chance to try it out yet, so here's hoping it didn't blow up in my hands.

"Show time." I said, pulling my right index finger back as it found it's way onto a weird trigger mechanism on the sword's hilt. As I pulled said trigger, the sword seemed to open up, as a green blade of light erupted from it.

At this, I felt a smirk rise to my face.

"It's a success!" I said, smiling.

"And you'll soon be dead!" Said a voice to my right, as I looked over to see a big dude with a giant hammer swing at me.

I quickly sidestepped the attack, gripping my weapon's handle as I swung at the bandit's midsection.

He was soon quick to fall, landing on the ground basically dead.

"And stay down." I said, running over to the others. "How many more?"

"We're almost finished up here." Said Nero. "Care to help us finish off the last wave?"

I smirked, bringing my sword up in front of me. "Damn straight!"

And we that, we charged into the horde.

"Alright… wait wait… a little more to the right… There!"

I walked over to Jade as he was watching over some of Tari's builders fix up the breach in the defenses.

"So, everything going well?" I asked.

Jade chuckled. "I don't see why it wouldn't be right now." He said, looking at me. "You've really been helping Rei out with making this nation a safe haven. I'd have half the mind to say some of the people here believed in you more than Rei."

I smirked. "Well we apparently can't have that…" I said, before looking up at the sky, the sun almost fully overtop of us. "It's about… 1:00 PM right now…"

"Don't you have like a meeting or something with Rei and Croire?" Asked Jade.

"That I do, you can handle everything here?" I asked.

"Please, this is probably going to be easier than what you have to deal with." Said Jade.

"Glad to know that I'm not the only one who doesn't like Crore." I said.

"She didn't really give many reason to be liked in the short time I've known her." Said Jade.

"What, she turn you down?" I asked, only to get slapped upside the head. "Worth it. See you around."

I sighed as I walked into Tari, the nation before all others.

This was the nation in its prime, before everything all fell to sh*t… And I would try to keep it like this for as long as possible.

I let out a sigh. "We have a meeting regarding some civilians and some sort of issue their having. No doubt Croire isn't going to give a crap… Guess I have my work cut out for me…"

I walked up to the nation's basilicom, as the guard's saluted me as I walked past.

A guard was waiting downstairs for me it seemed, as the moment I walked into the room, they made a beeline towards me.

"Oracle, I'll escort you to your destination." Said the guard, as she seemed nervous.

As we arrived in the elevator, I was quickly reminded how old styled the elevator was.

I looked over at my escort. "First day on the job?"

"Yes sir." Said my escort, as she seemed tense.

"Alright then." I said. "Lighten up, okay? And call me Bryce. Oracle doesn't roll off the tongue as much as I'd like."

"Yes sir- Bryce." Said the Guard.

The elevator dinged open, as my escort saluted me.

I let out a short breath I didn't know I was holding, as I left the elevator and opened the door to the meeting room.

"Alright, I'm here now. The breach has been dealt with and we're working on fixing the wall as I speak. So… shall we get started?" I asked, closing the door behind me.

"Let's." Said Rei, currently in her CPU form, as Croire sat opposite of me.

I gave a smile as I looked over the file in front of me, before looking out the window at the nation below us.

Times were good as it currently stands. Even with the issue of Croire being present, but it was good.

Honestly, it's too bad it wasn't going to last.

(Author's Note)

Hey guys, 0n3dgeGaming here! And I am SO,

SO GODDAMN SORRY about this not coming out sooner.

But I needed to get this out ASAP, which means that I did cut it off down the middle. Mainly in hopes that I'll have something to work off of when I start the next chapter.

I'd also like to say this chapter may be paced weirdly, but next chapter will most likely fill in things that I left out.

But for now, hope you guys enjoyed this.

And until next time…

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