Ax broke down into tears at the mere sight of his mother's statue. It was sculpted in marble with vivid detail, her long hair going down her shoulders through the bottom of her helmet. She was wearing armor that covered her legs in an armored 'pteruges' or kilt, which went past her knees. In her left hand she held a shield with a luard; in her right hand she held a sword that was not held with the io fight; it was lowered, and her gaze, her gaze was looking down at Ax, with a somber expression.

  Her eyes... they were the only colored detail of the sculpture. Its irises were stones, which were a beautiful deep hazel, which shined in the sunlight. A blend of warm tones, golden brown, green, and amber mixed with her expression would make anyone feel safe and fortable. Eyes that Axton ied.

  Her white marble sclera paralleled Ax's, whose was red fr. Minutes had passed since Ax had practically colpsed. E, who had just met Ax, walked up behind him aed her hand on his shoulder. His head jolting back, "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to—I'll stop,"she tried apologizing.

  "No, no, it's okay. You just reminded me of someone." He said as he stood up on his own two legs. Wiping his tears and clearing his throat.

  "Axton, I'd reend you keep your identity hidden. At least until you join an 'Order,' sidering that you're very o everything." Valve reended.

  "What's an order?" Ax asked Valve, his eyes still pink, but he o uand.

  "It's... a guild or a Summit Seeker group. If you join one, anyone who hurts you or attacks you makes enemies of that particur order of seekers," Valve answered.

  "What if I don't want to join one?" Ax asked curiously.

  "You have no other option; your identity will eventually be found out one way or another... if you want to live, you he prote of the order you join. There are bad people who still harbor hatred for your parents," Valve simply said it bluntly, implying that Ax's life would be at risk if he didn't.

  "Right..." Ax noted his s, sidering that he didn't know of Ax's Oddity.

  "How do I join one of these 'Orders'?" he asked.

  "I'm not a part of any order, Ax. E, take him to Baron; he'll expin it better than me." Valve's voice redirected to E.

  "Yeah, okay." She answered him, taking over the responsibility.

  "As for me... I have some business I o take care of," Valve uttered as he turned around and walked towards the exit.

  "So... you have Redbook?" E asked Ax.

  "Yeah, I do, but I don't remember my username, and there's no signal here, so like..." Ax shrugged; there was no way he could get her tacts here.

  "Oh... I see. You are NEW new," E mentioned.

  "...?" Ax tilted his head in fusion.

  "Summon the 'Codex,'" she anded him.

  "Huh?" The bck s appeared in front of him again.

  "CRAP! I pletely fot about this... thing." Ax got jump scared by the s.

  "This, 'thing.'. It is called 'The Codex.'. This is only accessible iven to mortals like elves, humaow press the 3rd i on the left," she asked him.

  "Alright..." Ax said as he pressed the i, causing the s to ge.

  The Unity Protocol

  List of members: 0 Add Member? __________ [ADD]

  "Okay... So I just add you?" he asked as he slowly figured it out.

  "Yeah, just think about adding 'Eine Perez,' and press add," she guided him.

  Add Eine Perez as a Unity member? [YES] [NO]

  With this, Ax added E to his Unity.

  "Great, now we send messages to each other," she said in a satisfied tone.

  "Wait, so 'E' is a niame?" he asked her.

  "Yeah, it is," E answered.

  "Then just call me Ax." He corrected her; she shrugged it off.

  "Now... do we go to Baron?" he asked.

  "Yeah, but first... we o make a stop." She corrected him.

  ***

  E dragged him to the eleics store he was at about a month ago.

  "Oh my, isn't it Perez! With the... boy I also met sometime ago. Small world, isn't it? I assume you just became a summit seeker?" the older dy behind the ter excimed excitedly.

  "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Charlotte, Charlotte Schmidt, but just call me Char," the dy introduced herself.

  "o meet you, Char! I'm Axton A-cks," E elbowed him with her metal arm.

  "Axton... Axe? That's unique," Char dismissed her fusion.

  "Yep... That's me... Axton Axe..." Ax slowly said as he held his stomad slightly hunched over.

  Char looked at E and looked back at him. "I assume you two are here for the Codex SIM?" she asked the both of them.

  "Yeah, he needs one," E replied.

  "That'll be 10 silver Totas," Char stated bluntly.

  "10?!", Ax excimed as his eyes widened in shock; that was expensive.

  "Oh, he doesn't know, does he?" Char asked E.

  "Nope. Fot to tell him," E said as she looked in a different dire.

  "E... what do you mean you for—hey, I'm talking to you," he said in a stern tone as E was avoiding eye tact.

  "Just pay up; let me grab the SIM," E said as she walked away, giving them some space.

  ***

  Ax grabbed 10 silver s from his Codex and pced them on the ter; he then walked around the store with E. Staring at the electric guitars in the music aisle.

  "I should really get a new guitar..." he muttered to himself.

  "I have an HSS Strat back at my pce; I bought it from here," E revealed as Ax was eyeing a simir model.

  "Oh? I have an LP with HH pickups. I e over and try it out?" he asked her.

  "Sure, I guess—oh look, she's back." E poi Char, who pced a bck pstic card on the ter.

  Ax went and grabbed the SIM card. "So I just pce it in?" he asked the two of them.

  "Yeah," E replied.

  Ax popped out the SIM card and put it in his phone. His eyes widened in shock.

  "Oh my, it has a signal now... that's —wait, why does it have i on it?" he asked, still amazed by the signal.

  "It's infinite, and it will always have a good signal..." Char slowly expined.

  "...Yeah, it's definitely worth the expense," Ax excimed.

  ***

  Ax and E were out of the store. "So... now what?" he asked E.

  "Now... We head off to the Prometheus Foundation Headquarters."