“Could you handle your little monster, and get it off of me?” I sighed while Layla just laughed at me.

  “Aw~! She likes you~!” Layla teased while her horrible little creature sat on my shoulders.

  The Cabold–or ‘Lil Lay’ as Layla calls it–was currently making a weird “gnarf” sound while also trying to peel my face off with its claws.

  I was immune to anything it could dish out, but it was still annoying to have my eyelids pulled on.

  “It’s only alive because I know you like it, but I do have limits to my patience.” I threatened but there was no real heat to it.

  “Even if I got her down, I don’t think she would respect you any more than she does now. You ‘lost’ the fight and so she sees you as inferior. So she’d just clamber back up to your shoulders.” Layla spoke and yet made no move to actually get the creature off of me.

  “So I just need to assert some form of dominance then?” I asked, reaching up and holding the Cabolds claws in my hands to stop it from digging in my ears. That didn’t stop it from biting into my scalp though.

  “Maybe? What’d you have in-” I cut Layla off as I held a hand out, and used my Skill Plasma Charge linked to me through Jimmy for the first time in a long while. Obliterating a distant mountain top I knew had no monsters or anything else alive on it.

  Blissful silence followed as the Cabold stopped its constant noisy assault to my head, and we all watched as the mountain top collapsed in on itself from missing over 3/4ths of rock that was once there.

  ‘I may have used too much Energy in that…’ I thought to myself, as I could definitely feel a tiny little hole open up in the atmosphere just beyond where I hit. Not enough to be visible or really do anything crazy, and it was already sealing back up, but it was there nonetheless.

  “You have laser beam hands?!” Layla asked, extremely excited.

  The Cabold on the other hand got the wrong idea and promptly deduced that it was still stronger than me, despite the massive beam of pure blue plasma I just used.

  “Layla, it didn’t work.” I groaned helplessly as the Cabold made more noises and went back to beating my head like a drum, clearly amused.

  “Well then, I guess you’re just her servant then. Oh how the mighty have fallen.” Layla teased, and I resisted the urge to fall over backwards to crush the Cabold.

  “Gao!” The Cabold screeched, thrusting out a palm.

  My sister burst out laughing, as the little shit started to mimic me.

  ‘Why is this the smartest monster I’ve ever seen? Why couldn’t it be something cooler? Like a dragon?’ I pondered in dismay, then realized that a dragon is probably a sapient species and not a monster.

  “Oh my God, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen~!” Layla was ecstatic.

  That was good and all, but the Cabold was still treating me like some kind of scratching poll.

  “Please get it off.” I practically begged my sister and she just laughed some more.

  I would remove the thing myself, and I’ve already done so.

  Thrice.

  Each time I did, the Cabold would simply scale up my legs and body to take ‘her rightful place’ as my sister called it.

  Not like I could hurt the thing either, because then my sister would hate me.

  Being the older brother sucked sometimes, but oh well.

  Then I got the idea that maybe I can tease my sister by checking the Cabolds gender with my absurd senses.

  ‘Maybe it’s not a girl?’ I hoped it would be a male, so I could mess with Layla but alas it was not meant to be.

  The Cabold was indeed female, so I lost before I even began.

  “Where are we going again?” Layla asked with a smile I knew she had without even needing to look.

  “We are going to the town… Ooploop.” I sighed once again, and my sister laughed.

  The Cabold decided to mimic Layla for some reason, ‘laughing’ as well with that weird hyena noise.

  That made my sister laugh even harder, and I was thankful that I couldn’t suffer from ear damage. The Cabold was loud and screechy when it laughed.

  “Ooploop! Hah~! There’s no way that’s the actual name!” Layla giggled and I had to admit that it is indeed a really stupid name.

  “Unfortunately, it really is that terrible. I haven’t been here since I got kicked off the world for being ‘too advanced’ for its development. Ah, there’s the wall.” I pointed as we walked and Layla squinted.

  “I can’t see it through the fog. Also, kicked off???” She mumbled and shook my head with a chuckle.

  “Don't worry about it. It’s the blank grey you see through the trees.” I said and she looked surprised.

  Couldn’t blame her for not knowing what she was seeing. The wall was tall enough that the tree canopy hid the top, making it hard to determine if it was a solid surface. No wonder she thought it was fog.

  “That’s a wall? It must be huge!” She nearly whispered in awe, and I was eagerly waiting to see her reaction to just how tall the people are.

  I vaguely remember that the actual town itself was rather small, and that the people native to this world were called Jipio. I don’t remember what Keji’s was called though, but maybe I should be thankful that I even remember his name.

  “It’s been well over a year since I’ve been here, I wonder if it got bigger.” I muttered to myself.

  “What was that?” Layla asked, not looking away from the wall.

  “Nothing, just talking to myself.” I replied as we finally left the forest proper.

  I watched as Layla looked up, and up, and up.

  “Holy crap…!” She mumbled and I nodded.

  While Layla gaped at the wall, I ignored the Cabold on my shoulders still trying to remove my face like a mask and looked around for the entrance.

  That’s when I saw a very familiar, and very shocked face.

  I gave him a smile.

  …

  —------ Keji, the Olougar guard —------

  After that day, the Human vanished without a trace.

  That day being ‘The Great Ancestor Descension Day’, named that by the Jipio who witnessed that horrifying event and spread it.

  They celebrate it as a holiday in town, on the same day it happened two years ago.

  In the time frame since… all of that happened, not much has changed if I’m honest with myself.

  Well, besides the fact that the Jipio have split into two different tribe types and are now at war with each other, one side welcomes The System while the other scorns it. So it’s pretty obvious which one is going to win in the end.

  The side that likes The System idolizes the Human as some kind of ‘Ancestor’ or ‘God’, basing themselves in the forests. The side that does not like The System claim the Human was a horrible demon, and base themselves in the mountains.

  There’s no official name for this war of theirs, or any name for the different Jipio types.

  They both claim to be descendents from their ‘Proper Ancestors’, but they both have different opinions on what their ancestors really are.

  For all I know, they probably do have different ancestors. They definitely appear to be different races.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The warmer and more welcoming race comes from the forests and happens to be more mammal-like, while the colder and more cynical race has more reptilian features while coming from the mountains.

  Thankfully the fighting isn’t bad enough that we need to step in, because it seems like the colder reptilian variant worships monsters themselves, saying that they are the right ancestors. Which means they get themselves killed all the time.

  Natural selection can be pretty mean sometimes.

  That’s not to say there aren’t any nice reptilian-esque Jipio, and no cold bitter mammal Jipio, but those are definitely outliers.

  I’ve been on this planet for four years now, and it sucks.

  The species is undergoing a race/religious war, the monsters are endless, and our technology is being limited so we don’t influence the natives too much.

  “I should go home soon.” I said with a sigh, closing my one eye tiredly.

  “Why? You feeling sick? Need to take the day off?” My gatekeeper partner Poli asked and I shook my head.

  “No, I mean our real home. Back to Uyrva.” I said and Poli looked at me in understanding.

  “Ohh, right. I forget about that place sometimes.” She said and I looked at her weirdly.

  “How do you forget about our home planet?” I asked and she shrugged.

  “Not like I have anything going on over there. Besides, I like this place more.” Poli said and I immediately felt guilty.

  Poli had no family or anything going for her back home, and I knew that.”

  “Sorry.” I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away.

  “Don’t worry about it. I really couldn’t care less.” She waved it off and went back to poking her spear into the dirt.

  We stood there in silence for a bit, then I heard something from the tree line to my left. It was still a fair bit away, but it was getting closer.

  “Do you hear that?” I asked and Poli leaned in, trying to hear anything.

  “Sounds like… a Kutheric? Aren’t they usually in packs?” She gave the noise a name and it indeed sounded like one of those annoying buggers.

  Kutheric were extremely small and weak bipedal monsters, but they were a fair bit more intelligent than other things. On the same level as extremely primitive sapient life. Though much more primitive than even the Jipio.

  Intelligent monsters are very rare, but not unheard of. What is almost unheard of is a smart monster that is pretty similar to the leading sapient life of a planet.

  Intelligent monsters also rarely move around in packs, because it’s a mutation variant most of the time.

  That’s why the Kutheric are very… weird.

  And also extremely annoying.

  “Yeah, that definitely sounds like a Kutheric. Maybe it’s a scout?” I asked and Poli just smiled.

  “You and I both know that Kutheric aren’t smart enough to do anything like that. Probably just got separated from its pack and doesn’t know it’s going to die.” Poli giggled darkly.

  I was about to respond when I noticed more noise, and then the origin of that noise came out of the woods.

  What I saw made me freeze, and I saw Poli freeze up next to me.

  There was a lone Kutheric, yes, but it was riding a much taller and paler bipedal… thing with another pale bipedal thing next to that.

  “What the hell…” I muttered so softly only I heard it.

  “Oh my Go- Check it’s name.” Poli hissed at me in a whisper, suddenly on alert.

  I did so, and everything came crashing down around me as my mind sped up.

  The Human…

  Was back.

  And it smiled at me.

  …

  —------ Greg —------

  “Heeyyyy, there’s Keji!” I nudged Layla with my elbow, which knocked her against the head gently.

  “Hey- who?” She glared at me briefly before looking where I was and then just stared at the two guards.

  I started walking over and Layla eventually decided to follow me, running up behind me. The Cabold, with it’s incredible monster intelligence, gave the guards a quick glance before going back to gnaw noisally on my scalp like a chew toy.

  “H-hey… Human. Long time huh?” Keji said with a strained smile, his lone eye glancing at my sister behind me then back to me.

  “Yep! It’s been, what, almost 2 years now?” I asked cheerily and I could feel Layla look at me in surprise.

  “You know their language? What are they saying?” She whispered and I ignored her for now.

  “Y-yeah… So… How have you been?” Keji stammered and I remembered just how freakish I looked to him so long ago.

  I interacted with him before Jerald fixed that weird feeling I gave off, so I left quite the impression on him. Maybe I can fix that now though.

  “Good, good. You?” I asked and Keji just nodded.

  “Good…” He muttered, glancing at the Cabold, my sister, to his partner who I don’t remember the name of, and then back to me.

  “Don’t think I could go into town and show my sister around could I? Is there a toll I need to pay now? It has been a long time after all.” I smiled up at the still taller than me alien, and secretly enjoyed how bewildered Layla was as she looked up at the alien in front of her.

  “Sister…?” I heard the woman next to Keji mutter.

  “S-sure! No problem at all! I’ll uh… guide you. I guess.” Keji instantly regretted saying that, I knew, but I wasn’t about to give my old pal an out now.

  “That would be great!” I nodded and he begrudgingly lead us into the town.

  “Can you tell me what you were talking about now? And how you spoke so fluently? Can I do that too?” Layla immediately started to bug me in a hushed tone and I held my hands up to calm her down.

  “Relax, one question at a time. That’s Keji, one of the first aliens I ran into on my journey and he’s going to guide us around town. Also, it’s a cheat Skill for language. I’m pretty sure I can… influence your System to grant it~?” I said with a smirk and she nodded eagerly.

  This was technically cheating, but oh well. Fuck it.

  I promptly opened my little cheat sheet and granted her a Skill similar to mine that will let her ‘learn’ languages at a rapid pace. What it really does is just automatically translate the words as she speaks and hears them, but it’ll work just fine.

  Layla squealed in glee as she got the Skill, and Keji flinched at the noise. Poor guy was traumatized.

  “So, the town hasn’t changed much since you were last here. It even has the scars from your last visit…” Keji added the last part quietly, and I could see that it was indeed true.

  The last time I was here, it was during a monster wave or whatever it’s called. The ground still had craters from the mess I made, even if they had become weirdly shaped grassy hills.

  “Oh! I can understand him now!” Layla said excitedly, making Keji flinch again.

  “Ah… so you can! You really are siblings.” Keji spoke with a strained smile, and I’d feel bad if I could.

  “Yep! Maybe she’ll hit a growth spurt like I did.” I teased and Layla struck her elbow into my knee.

  “I don’t want to be freakishly tall like you! You didn’t even fit inside our house right!” She narrowed her eyes at me, and Keji just looked on uncomprehendingly.

  “Any particular place you wanted to visit?” Keji asked, ignoring our banter.

  “Not really. You got anywhere you want to visit?” I asked, turning towards my sister.

  “Hmm… It’s gotta be the tavern! Let’s go to the bar!” She demanded and I nodded towards Keji.

  He just sighed and started leading us towards the tavern.

  We passed several more of his kin, and even some Jipio. Layla did her best not to stare, which is to say that she didn’t actually try at all.

  “You made it seem like they’d be uglier.” Layla said, still staring at a cat person I still found weirdly disturbing.

  “You don’t think they look weird? When I see them, all I see is the uncanny valley between a cat and… something else?” I looked down at her, still ignoring the Cabold currently pulling on my ears.

  “No, to me they look c-” Layla tried to speak but I cut her off.

  “They are not cute.” I deadpanned and she just smirked.

  “I was going to say cool… But they do look cute.” She added that last bit really fast so I couldn’t stop her.

  “You’re such a weirdo.” I groaned and she just laughed.

  As we continued our walk through the town, Layla got to see just how small she was compared to everything. The Jipio were only half as tall as Keji's people, and I had grown taller. Which put me at the same height as the Jipio actually. It felt weird to have a species be the same height as me in this state.

  I heard several Jipio mention or whisper ‘Great Ancestor’ as we passed, and I wasn’t really sure what to think about that.

  “Here’s the t-tavern, but I don’t think you’ll be able to order anything.” Keji said cautiously.

  “Huh? Why not?” Layla asked dumbly and Keji shook his head.

  “Uh, never mind! Don’t worry about it.” He spoke and waved us in, choosing to remain outside.

  “They think we’re kids.” I told my sister and she looked at me weirdly.

  “Really? But… You’re 37 next month and I’m 29.” She spoke plainly, clearly confused.

  “They measure age here alongside Levels most of the time, and you’re Level one.” I told her and she tilted her head.

  While she thought about that, I led us to the counter. I ignored the stares from the other patrons, and my sister was too far in her own head to really notice.

  ‘I had forgotten about the birthdays I missed… Damn.’ I thought to myself as I lifted Layla up onto a stool with Telekinesis and got on my own. Layla’s head just barely went over the counter top.

  “So it usually takes a full year to get a Level here?” She finally asked and I nodded.

  “Normally, but we’re not normal. They don’t have Humans here, so they don’t know about our lifespans or anything. We also have different Systems than they do.” I answered and thought about what to order.

  I wasn’t much of a drinker, but what else are you supposed to do at an alien bar?

  “Rounds on me.” I said to the bar keeper Jipio, who had bulging eyes and a short stubby snout.

  I was trying to sound cool and look the part in front of my sister, so I materialized a System Shop Point worth 10 points into a coin and flipped it down onto the counter.

  “This… is too much, Great Ancestor. For you, it is free.” The Jipio had this really nasally voice, and his eyes were either naturally like that or he was just super duper surprised. Which I knew he was, but this was like a freakish level of control over his eyelids.

  “...Alright.” I said, feeling incredibly lame.

  It was rather hard to look cool when you had a tiny gremlin on your shoulders pulling on your cheeks, and Layla was currently trying not to laugh.

  The bartender returned, drinks in hand.

  One for me, something that looked way too yellow and smelled like burnt bread.

  One for Layla, the same as mine.

  And one more. A mug of some kind of milk for the Cabold eating my hair.

  Layla laughed.