Mijo was a good boy. He was laying in the living room with his best friend in the whole world, Javi. The strange box of dreams showed scenes Mijo didn't really understand, but Javi seemed to enjoy it. That was enough for Mijo. The strange man in the box began screaming, and his hair turned bright yellow as he got into a fight with a bunch of strange creatures Mijo had never seen before.

Mijo decidedly stayed watching over Charlie. He was a small human, the only one of Javi's litter. Mijo didn't know where Charlie's birth mother had gone, but the workings of humans was beyond him. Javi had come home one day with Charlie, and that was enough for Mijo to accept him.

The baby watched Mijo as Mijo watched the baby, both locked in eye contact looking at each other. Mijo tilted his head, trying to make a playful face to make Charlie laugh. He liked it when that happened. Javi may be his best friend, but Mijo would die to protect Charlie.

Soon, Javi said one of Mijo's favorite words.

"Maxwell, you want to go on a walk?"

Mijo didn't know what any of those other words meant, but he sure knew walk. He got to his feet slowly, trying to stay balanced. Lately, he hadn't been able to walk as far as he used to. His hips hurt, and he was always tired. It was completely opposite from when he was younger.

Mijo had memories from when he was young. He had a different human back then, and they would train him to try to bite people wearing strange baggy clothes. They would yell a word, and he would go bite their baggy arm, and for some reason this made them happy.

It displeased Mijo, he didn't like biting people. Eventually, they decided Mijo was not cut out for that line of work, and he was given to Javi who had taken care of him ever since. Mijo wasn't complaining, Javi was great. He was super smart. He knew how to use the weird contraptions on the walls that caused them to open, he always brought home food, and he could throw a ball like no other.

He sat in front of the door, where Javi always did that thing with the object that caused it to open. What a genius. Javi was picking up Charlie and putting him in a stroller. If they weren't careful, Charlie would get up and walk away. Mijo remembered when Charlie started walking, it was amazing. Javi had been there, and it had been a great day for everyone.

"Alright Max, are you ready? Aw, I love you Mijo, you're such a good boy. Oh yes you are." Javi said, kissing the top of Mijo's head. Mijo loved it when Javi said that. He also liked to use the words Max and Maxwell a lot, but Mijo had never figured those ones out. His tail began wagging, as quick as an old dog's tail could wag.

Once they were outside, they would probably see if Charlie was up to walk too. While Mijo had been slowing down, Charlie had been speeding up. It made Mijo sad, knowing he may not get to see Charlie grow up into a big human like Javi, but that was the way it went. Mijo would make the most of the time he had.

Javi placed his hand on the door and began to open it. Mijo could hardly wait, he stuck his nose in the opening and tried to step out, but suddenly he was unable to move. Everything froze, as if the world stood still. Mijo had seen Javi make the strange dream box do this a few times before, and he wondered why Javi had paused everything.

FWOOMP

Mijo was no longer home. Everything was white, and strange things began to appear before him. He understood none of it, he just wanted to know where Javi went. He searched the room, trying to find a scent. There was nothing, an anomaly he had never experienced before. Usually he could smell at least something, but the only hint of Javi was on himself.

After a few moments, fire went through his body. He yelped in surprise, looking for who had done that. Strangely enough, he was walking better now. Whoever had done that may not deserve to be yelled at, and instead thanked. He looked around for who had done this when he heard another sound.

FWOOMP

The white room had changed, and now there were other dogs in the same room as him. Mijo's ears perked up, and they all began to exchange greetings. They sniffed one another, and Mijo thought they were alright. The quick distraction didn't make him forget about Javi though, and he looked around the room for something different.

There were a few floating weird things Mijo had never seen before. They had fire inside, shining multiple bright colors. Mijo approached them, curious to see what these new objects were. They had scents he had never smelt before, they smelled like things that weren't actually things.

For example, two of them smelt smart. One of them smelt fast, one of them smelt strong, and another smelt durable. The smart fires reminded Mijo of Javi, he was really smart. Mijo gently licked one of the smart fires, hoping it wouldn't burn him.

The ball disappeared, and suddenly Mijo felt something strange happen. He felt like his bark had changed, and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. Eventually, the other dogs in the room each got curious and chose a ball, going for the one that appealed to them the most.

FWOOMP

They were in a large building, one Mijo actually recognized. It was something Javi had called The Mall. It was a completely abandoned building, and normally they had to sneak inside. However, it was always really fun to explore. There were lots of new smells and cool sights, there was no one around and they both seemed to enjoy just looking around.

They hadn't been there since Mijo got older and once Charlie came into the picture. It was a shame, Charlie should get to see The Mall too. Strange sounds came from one of the rooms along the wall, and scary strange creatures began to appear. Mijo knew instinctively that if he wanted to leave, he could. All of the other dogs did so immediately, and they vanished into thin air.

This was Javi's territory, Mijo wasn't going to let them have it. He began barking at the monsters in front of him, terrified but trying his best not to show it. If he could scare them off, that would be best. The monsters approached anyway, making Mijo nervous. If he had to bite them, he would. He didn't want to hurt anything, but this was Javi's The Mall, not their The Mall. He couldn't take Charlie here one day if these scary things were going to be mean.

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Mijo couldn't really jump the way he used to, even after the weird white room helped him out. Still, he made his way towards them ready to bite. One of the monsters, a tall, skinny creature with big ears, swiped a clawed hand at Mijo. Mijo recoiled, realizing he wasn't fast enough to get close. He barked again as the slow moving monster kept approaching, seemingly intent on cornering him.

Something strange happened as Mijo changed his bark. He did what he had learned earlier, making his bark more. His voice caused the air in front of him to shimmer, making the monsters wince in pain. They covered their ears, giving Mijo the perfect chance to attack.

He bit and chewed them, retreating where necessary to avoid being hurt. Mijo was a smart boy, that and a good boy. He didn't want to get hurt, and he didn't want to hurt them. They just wouldn't leave him alone.

He continued to bark and bite, repeating the pattern until they gave up. One by one, the slow moving monsters curled up on the ground in submission after a healthy dose of barks. Mijo really must have scared them with his barking, since they didn't want to move at all anymore.

Something happened, and he felt a new sensation. In his mind, he felt three strange things that got his attention. He also felt… smarter. He hadn't noticed it as he got older, but his mind had grown more unclear as time passed. It felt like that fog had been peeled away a bit, and now he had a choice of some sort.

There was something in his mind that felt like an improvement to his bark, another that felt like it would do something to his howl, and the third option-

It felt like Javi.

Mijo yearned for that sensation, and after a moment he felt something new enter his mind once again. He knew he could find Javi somehow if he just followed the sensation, but his heart broke as soon as he used the ability.

Javi was dead. Mijo didn't understand how he knew this, but it was true. How? Mijo had just seen Javi a little bit ago, they were about to go on a walk. He laid down and cried, looking at the surroundings Javi would never get to see again. What about little Charlie? Javi wouldn't get to see his litter grow up, how could Javi give Charlie The Mall if Javi was gone?

Mijo wanted to give up. The world had turned so cruel, so mean, so hurtful. He didn't want this. He was smart enough to know his time had been limited, but he had been plenty happy to spend that time laying by Javi's side watching over Charlie.

Charlie.

He was alive. It was the same thing that let him know of Javi's passing, telling him that Charlie was out there somewhere. Still upset, Mijo got to his feet. His best friend in the whole world was gone, but Charlie was still okay. Charlie wasn't here, but Mijo would make sure The Mall was safe. Then, as soon as he was finished with that here, he would leave. He had one goal, one he intended to follow for the rest of his life.

Keep Charlie safe.

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Teresa wiped the mud off herself as she stood up in the remains of the dead Elemental. The damn thing hadn't even given her a level, what an asshole. She hadn't really been fighting enemies her level lately so she hadn't been getting much experience, but it still would have been nice.

Multiple parties of Scilians began to appear in the area around her, as though they had all been waiting for an opportunity to enter the settlement. Many of them looked at her reverently, and she noticed with some confusion that all of them were incredibly low levels. There had to be at least 30 of the Scilians, but none were stronger than level 2.

Maybe they just weren't great at combat, Teresa didn't know their capabilities. A lot of humans were still really weak too, there was no shame in it. Many of the Scilians began kneeling to her, including the children and elders in the settlement. Damn it, this was not the vibe she was going for.

"Look, I don't know if any of you have a <Translate> skill high enough to understand this, but I am not your god. I'm not a god, period. End of story. Look, I'm glad you're all alright now, but there are other people I need to go help too. If you see a human like me, please try to help them out. Just, be a little careful. You might spook them." Teresa said, trying her best to get the point across. It was also true that if a Scilian came and helped a human out, the human would freak out and attack the Scilian. To be fair, they did really look like monsters, but based on the fact that the System gave them a settlement they probably weren't.

It was kind of racist to assume they would be hostile based off their appearance, but considering all of the crazy things happening right now Teresa was sure the vast majority of people would freak out and assume these guys were hostile.

"Actually, be really careful with other humans. No sudden movements or anything. Why am I even bothering, none of you understand me." Teresa shook her head and got ready to leave, but to her shock the children of the settlement were the first to stop kneeling. The elders scolded them, but they began speaking back and forth. Strangely enough, Teresa had a much easier time understanding the children. Did they have a high level <Translate> skill? It was kind of weird to Teresa that the kids would be the best at communicating, but there was probably some reason to it she just didn't grasp yet.

From the gist of it, the kids totally understood her. Or at the very least, mostly understood. They were still referring to her as a war goddess, and Teresa could not stress enough how uncomfortable that made her, but otherwise they got the message across about protecting humans and trying to be careful about spooking them.

They seemed to think this was some sort of holy test from the divine, and that Teresa's adamant rejection of being a war goddess was actually just a sign that she was trying to be discreet and they should be too. Teresa reiterated that she was not a goddess, but it was clearly a losing battle. Fuck, this better not become a thing. She didn't even like the word goddess, it left a bad taste in her mouth.

Many of the Scilian parties began making their way towards the settlement, a couple eager to be reunited with their own children. Teresa found it concerning that they bothered to kneel before going to see their kids, really the sooner she leveled up her <Translate> the better.

These people didn't honestly seem like they would be a huge help to the human population, at least not right away. They were too weak right now, but somewhere down the line Teresa was sure it would pay off. Hell, if they saved even just one person today that would make her happy.

She excused herself from the alien creatures, a million questions about them still in her mind. Where did they come from? Shit, were they from the same universe as Teresa? That would be crazy cool, that actually would make Teresa one of the first people to ever talk to aliens. What part of the universe were they from? They were clearly a religious society, how did this whole System thing affect that? Hell, how did that affect Earth's religions? Teresa would ask Madeline once she got the chance, but there were a lot of things on her list of things to talk about with her party. For example, their last names and ages.

Teresa knew Jake only had one kidney due to a random conversation during the Tutorial where he mentioned he had what was called a horseshoe kidney, which meant he had only one on a technicality, but she didn't know his last name. That was ridiculous, she should know this by now.

Still, there were more important things to do, and now she had an idea. If she could form an alliance with the Scilians, then why stop there? Teresa was one person and she could only cover so much ground by herself. Saving people wasn't going to be a one day long operation, odds are tomorrow they would have to figure out a plan to improve the settlement while also sending search parties out.

For now though, the Albino Gorillas were due for a visit.

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